PENINSULAR     SERIES 


OF    AMERICA 


HISPANIC  NOTES 
AND    MONOGRAPHS 


THE 

MILITARY  ORDERS 

IN  SPAIN 


The  Pax  of  Ucles 


A  BRIEF  ACCOUNT  OF  THE 

MILITARY  ORDERS 
IN  SPAIN 


BY 

GEORGIANA  GODDARD  KING,  M.A. 

Professor  of  the  History  of  Art,  Bryn  Mawr  College 
Member  of  the  Hispanic  Society  of  America 


PUBLISHED    BY 

THE  HISPANIC  SOCIETY  OF   AMERICA 
New  York 

1921 


Copyright,  1921,  by 
THE  HISPANIC  SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA 


TO 

A  GREAT  AND  GENEROUS 

LOVER  OF  SPAIN 


49S97  0 


MILITARY    ORDERS 

vii 

ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF 
CONTENTS 

PAGE 

^  Dedication v 

V 

^  Analytical  Table  of  Contents   ...     vii 
^  Illustrations .      ix 

^  Introduction 1 

^  Knightly  Origins •    •    •       2 

H  Earlier  Orders 4 

HCalatrava 8 

Foundation 9 

Privileges  and  Dignities    ....     12 
Zorita  de  los  Canes    ......     16 

Alcaiiiz 20 

f[  Gains 21 

Cordovan  Civilization 22 

Battle  of  Alarcos 24 

Epical  Fragment 26 

H  Battle  of  las  Navas 30 

Foreign  Contingent 31 

It  Goes  Home 36 

The  Fight 39 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

viii 

M  ILITARY     ORDERS 

^  Argote  de  Molina 44 

^  The  Toledan  Annalist 47 

War,  Famine  and  Horror  ....     54 

If  Calatrava  Acquires 57 

^  The  House  of  Padilla 61 

^  After  King  Peter 67 

Portrait  of  a  Master 68 

D.  Enrique  de  A^illena 69 

If  The  Time  of  John  II 74 

If  Death  of  the  Keeper 77 

If  King  Henry  and  the  Rebels  ....      80 
If  The  Fifteenth-Century  Ideal    ...      83 
^  D.  Pedro  Giron 85 

Fuenteovejuna 90 

D.  Rodrigo 91 

Romance 92 

!f  Garci  Lopez  de  Padilla 96 

If  The  Castle  of  Calatrava 98 

Annequin  de  Egas 99 

If  Alcantara.' 101 

If  The  Convent 103 

The  Bridge  .    .                                   107 

If  Wars  in  the  West 108 

Gonzalo  Nunez    . 113 

If  In  King  Peter's  Day 120 

If  The  Battle  of  Aljubarrota     ....    126 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


^  Romantic  Figures 131 

D.  Juan  de  Sotomayor 133 

^  D.  Gomez  de  Caceres 144 

Queen  Isabel  Ends  All 154 

^  Lesser  Orders;  Monte  Gaudio  .    .    .  155 

Trujillo 159 

!1  S.  George  of  x\lfama 160 

The  Hospice 163 

^  Montesa 164 

Great  Figures 169 

^  Santiago   .    .  _^. 172 


![  Friends  of  God 177 

IfUcles 182 

*[  Early  History 186 

^  St.  James  as  Psychopompos     ...  189 

Apparitions 190 

^1  Dissensions 194 

5f  A  Guzman  Interposed 196 

^  Battle  of  Salada 199 

^  The  Master  D.  Fadrique 203 

Romance 208 

^[  Tapestry  Figures 213 

^  Peribanez 214 

English  and  Spanish  Plays    .    .    .  216 

^  The  Infants  of  Aragon 217 

Character  of  D.  Enrique   .    .    .    .222 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


IX 


X 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

^  D.  Alvaro  de  Luna 223 

Character 224 

Life       ...            .    .                   227 

Death 235 

^  Poetry  .    .                                               236 

1[  D.  Beltran  de  la  Cueva 244 

H  D.  Juan  Pacheco 247 

^  Contemporaries  Not  Impartial   .    .   255 
Character  of  Enrique  IV  ...    .   257 

H  D.  Gomez  Manrique 258 

^  Apologia  pro  RB.  CC 262 

Colonial  Policies 264 

The  Orders  Afterwards 265 

In  America 2(57 

Tempering  the  Spirit 270 

U  Envoy 272 

Bibliographical  Note 273 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

THE  PAX  OF  UCLES.    .    .     Frouttsptece 
Published  by  the  Exposition  of  1904 
at  Saragossa. 

EACING  PAGE 

the  castle  of  calatrava  ...  24 
calatrava:  mountain  rock  .  .  100 

This  and  the  foregoing  were  taken  on 
the  expedition  of  Miss  E.  H.  Lowber 
for  the  Society  in  1919-20. 

THE    BRIDGE    OF   ALCAnTARA  .     .     .     108 

A  Spanish  photograph  in  the  files  of 
the  Society. 

GRECO :    A   KNIGHT    PRESENTED    BY 

S.   JULIAN 142 

This  is  probably  a  knight  of  Alcan- 
tara, wrongly  restored  as  Julian 
Romero;  from  Cossio,  El  Greco. 

THE    HOSPITAL    OF    S.    MARCOS     .     .     186 
From  a  photograph  by  Arthur  Byne 
in  the  files  of  the  Society. 

D.    AlVARO   DE    LUNA 236 

From  a  photograph  by  Moreno  of  the 
retable  in  Toledo,  by  kindness  of  the 
Institute  de  Valencia  de  D.  Juan. 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


XI 


xii 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

1 

A  Brief  Account  of  the  Military 
Orders  in  Spain 

The  intention  of  this  little  book  is  to  supply 
for  persons  of  taste  and  cultivation,  who 
may   be   travelling   in   Spain   or   reading 
Spanish  books,  a  brief  account  of  the  foun- 
dation and  fall  of  the  three  great  Orders: 
Calatrava,  Alcantara  and  Santiago.    Mon- 
tesa  is  included,  chiefly  for  the  sake  of 
symmetry,   though   the   history   and   the 
figures  that  move  through  it  belong  exclu- 
sively to  the  east  coast.    The  others,  how- 
ever, are  so  essentially  Castilian,  and  so 
many  of  the  great  names  in  Spanish  story 
stand  on  the  roll  of  Masters,  that  a  word 
about  them  cannot  come  amiss.    In  passing 
through  the  courts  of  Seville  the  tourist 
hears  a  vague  murmur  of  the  cruel  death 
of  the  Master  D.  Fadrique:  in  approaching 
Granada  the  Romance  rings  in  his  ears: 

Ah,  God,  what  a  good  knight  was  the 
Master  of  Calatrava! 

Intro- 
duction 

Old 
tradition 

AND     M ONOGRAPHS 

2 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

Los 

Caballeros 
dela 
Cruz 

A  mutual 
chivalry 

Ucles  and  Calatrava  lie  far  from  the 
travelled  roads  even  of  those  who  go  in 
motors,  but  the  Bridge  of  Alcantara  and 
S.  Mark's  Hospital  at  Leon  are  depicted 
in  every  colour-book:  and  the  red  cross 
of  Calatrava  and  the  white  mantle  of 
Santiago  figure  in  the  portraits  of  every 
town  gallery  and  great  house.  The  passer- 
by knows  a  vague  sense  of  something  impal- 
pable but  not  quite  perished;  he  is  faintly 
aware  as  of  a  faded  glory,  and  of  the  dust 
of  crumbling  honour  worn  with  age  but 
still  clean.  What  is  it  that  they  mean? 
the  imagination  insists  and  will  not  be 
appeased:  what  is  this  fragrance  of  dead 
leaves,  this  light  of  suns  long  set,  that  lin- 
gers still  in  the  hush  of  the  ambient  air? 

To  explain  that,  is  the  present  intention: 
to  relate,  and  a  little  to  interpret. 

1 

Some  have  said  that  the  Arabs  organized, 
very  early,  a  kind  of  wild  chivalry,  and 
had  certain  knights  called  rabitos,  or  fron- 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


tiersmen,  who  were  bound  together  by 
mutual  vows  and  a  common  austerity  of 
hfe,  and  who  kept  the  outposts  of  Islam 
with  sleepless  ward.  This  may  be.  It  is 
hard  to  say  where  first  the  use  obtained. 
In  the  interchange  of  perpetual  warfare 
between  noble  enemies  customs  and  usage 
must  have  grown  much  alike,  in  Syria  or 
Egypt,  in  Sicily  or  Spain,  and  the  florid 
Berbers  and  the  dark  Iberians  have  imi- 
tated each  other  as  well  as  emulated.  There 
were  almogavares  in  the  Pyrenees  and 
assassins  in  the  Lebanon.  Wherever  the 
intermittent  but  endless  war  went  on,  it 
moulded  men's  observance  and  tempered 
their  spirits,  by  a  like  process,  to  a  like 
ideal.  Through  long  lifetimes,  through  gen- 
erations and  centuries,  the  conflict  contin- 
ued and  resumed,  necessary  to  man's  life  as 
food  and  fire,  refining  in  its  emotion,  its 
issues,  its  sanctions,  as  the  love  of  lovers 
and  the  bitterness  of  martyrs.  Over- 
population, we  are  told,  and  the  want  of 
raw  materials,  produce  the  convulsions  of 
history — a  high  birth-rate  and  the  law  of 
diminishing  returns.    The  outcome  is  not 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


"A  terrible 
and 

splendid 
trust" 


.   .  And 
conquest  is 
dragged 
captive 
through 
the  deep" 


MILITARY    ORDERS 


always  alike,  however:  the  same  pressure 
may  have  flung  forth  the  Huns  and  the 
Normans,  but  the  consequences  in  Europe 
were  different:  and  where  one  age  has 
been  involved  in  a  World  War,  on  another 
had  burst  the  glory  of  the  Crusades. 
Brotherhood  in  vows  was  familiar  to  the 
age;  equality  of  opportimity  awaited  the 
self-dedicated,  in  the  cloister  or  in  the  front 
of  battle;  the  tie  of  danger  not  only  shared 
but  sought  together,  the  thirst  of  self- 
devotion  slaked  at  a  common  cup,  the 
ecstasy  of  immolation  for  God's  glory  and 
the  world's  ransom — all  these  were  ordi- 
nary experience  from  the  tenth  century  to 
the  thirteenth,  and  that  not  in  Europe  only, 
but  on  the  northern  shore  of  Africa  and  in 
the  western  lands  of  Asia  and  among  the 
islands  of  the  midland  sea. 


I 


As  there  were  many  pilgrimages,  so 
there  were  many  crusades — Ferdinand  the 
Saint  spoke  well  when  he  replied  in  this 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

5 

sense  to  S.  Louis  of  France,  who  was  his 
mother's  sister's  son.    In  Spain  there  was 
always  a  crusade.    It  is  possible  and  even 
likely  that  the  model  of  the  Templars,  and 
of  the  Knights  of  S.  John  and  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  gave  rise  immediately  to  the 
great  Spanish  Orders,  but  these  three,  of 
Calatrava,  of  Alcantara,  and  of  S.  James 
of  the  Sword,  are  only  the  strongest,  the 
surviving,  among  many  that  sprang  up.    In 
the  eastern  parts,  particularly,  the  Pales- 
tinian orders  were  established  early:    D. 
Alfonso  el  Batallador,  dying  without  heirs 
in   1134,  left  the  kingdom  of  Aragon  to 
"the   Holy   Houses   and   Soldiery   of   the 
Sepulchre   of   the    Hospital,    and   of   the 
Temple  of  Jerusalem."    True,  the  Cortes 
repudiated  his  will  and  elected  D.  Ramiro 
el  Rey  Monje,  but  already  in  his  lifetime 
he  had  given  over  to  the  Templars   his 
palace  at  Sanguesa,  and  by  1146  the  same 
order  was  established  at  Puente  la  Reyna. 
The  Templars  did  nobly  in  Spain.    Their 
earliest  house  was  at  Monzon  where  the 
wreck  of  their  castle  still  crumbles  above 
the  hill-climbing  town.     When  they  were 

"To  live, 
and  act, 
and  serve 
the  future 
hour." 

Earlier 
orders:  of 
the  Temple 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

6 

M  ILITARY     ORDERS 

of  the 
Hospital 

of  the 
Palms 

ruined,  by  the  determination  and  power 
of  the  King  of  France  and  a  French  Pope 
his  creature,  their  wealth  in  Spain  was 
saved  in  part  and  assigned  for  the  founda- 
tion of  other  Orders. 

The  Order  of  S.  John  of  Jerusalem  has  a 

like  story  and  one  almost  contemporary. 
The  King  D.  Peter  the  Cathohc  of  Aragon 
loved  the  Order  well,  and  was  buried  at 
Sijena  in  the  Convent  of  Comendadores 
de  S.  Juan  de  Jerusalen,  where  he  had  been 
armed  a  knight.  Cervera  was  another 
double  monastery  of  the  Hospital  ruled  by 
the  Comendadora:  in  1806  the  good  Vil- 
lanueva  could  still  trace  the  ruins  of  a 
circular  church  there.  But  all  the  while 
there  were  other  orders  springing  up  under 
the  shadow  of  these:  perhaps  the  earliest 
that  of  the  Jreyles  or  Knightly  Brethren 
of  the  Palms  who  assisted  Alfonso  el 
Batallador  in  1110,  their  master  being 
called  D.  Garcia  Sanchez.  The  learned 
and  loyal  historian,  Pedro  Abarca,  would 
see  in  these  the  Order  of  Santiago,  present 
in  the  world  and  doing  God's  service  sixty- 
five  years  before  any  Bull  endorses  them: 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

7 

it  can  hardly  be  so.   Already,  in  his  turn, 
Briz   Martinez  had  said  that  Aragonese 
knights  before  going  to  war  went  up  to 
S.  Juan  de  la  Pena  and  called  themselves 
Knights  of  S.  John,  and  that  they  were 
installed  in  Monreal,  the  brown  hill  that 
rears   above   the   river   Aragon,    between 
Tiermas  and  Pampeluna.     Briz  Martinez 
was  abbot  of  S.  Juan  de  la  Pena  and  knew 
the  archives  there;    he  is  likely  to  have 
known  the  truth. 

At  the  conquest  of  Daroca  there  was  a 
Milicia  called  after  S.  Saviour:    at  Teruel 
was  one  called  after  the  Redeemer,  *  joined 
to  the  Temple  in  1296.    At  a  meeting  of 
prelates  in  Gerona,  called  by  Ramiro  IV 
and  presided  over  by  the  Cardinal-legate 
Guido^  on  the  27th  of  November,   1143, 
the  King  created  a  new  order  of  soldiery 
to  fight  against  the  Moors  in  imitation  of 
that  of  the  Temple,  and  subject  to  the 
Master  of  that.     The  short-lived  Order  of 
Monte  Gaudio*  passed  from  the  west  to  the 
east  and  back  again.    But  all  these  Ara- 
gonese orders — and  more  are  known,  and 
others,  doubtless,  there  were,  now  unknown 

of  the  Rocls 
*V.  p.  158 
*V.  p.  15.S 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

8 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

*V.  p.  56 
*V.  p.  159 

The  Order 
of  Calatrava 

—either  died  out  or  were  gathered  in  by 
the  Temple  or  the  Hospital.    Only  that  of 
Calatrava  was  too  deeply  rooted  and  too 
well  sustained.     Turning  from  the  Medi- 
terranean to  the  Atlantic  shore,  the  same 
process  appears.     So,  far  in  the  west,  the 
Order  of  Evora*  was  organized  in  1147; 
and  that  of  Alcantara  was  anticipated  and 
then  being  established  was  supported  in  its 
turn:    and  a  donation  of  Alfonso  IX  gave 
five  towns  in  1 195  to  the  Order  of  Trujillo.  * 
Calatrava  was  a  frontier-post,  a  castle 
in  the  south.     The  Templars  had  thrown 
it  up,  as  too  hard  to  hold;   the  King  had 
proffered  it  to  any  taker;  two  white  monks 
of  Fitero  had  accepted:    a  cowled  Cister- 
cian, Frey  Raimundo  Sierra,  ecclesiastic  to 
the  marrow,  and  Frey  Diego  Velazquez,  an 
old  soldier  who  had  looked  to  end  his  days 
inside  a  cloister,  dozing  in  the  sun,  drowsing 
under  the  psalms. 

1 

The  foundation  of  the  Order  of  Calatrava 
was  on  this  wise : 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

9 

Alfonso  VI  took  Toledo  in   1072.     El 
que  gano  Toledo:  that  is  how  the  chronicles 
name  the  amazing  old  king  of  the  many 
monasteries,  the  many  wives,  the  many 
conquests.       But     though    he    recovered 
Toledo,  Calatrava  la  Vieja  was  for  seventy- 
two  years  more  in  the  power  of  the  Haga- 
renes.     In  1 147  Alfonso  VII  took  but  could 
not    keep"^ Cordova,    so    he    returned    to 
Toledo  and  thence  besieged  Calatrava  and 
stormed  it.    He  gave  the  chief  mosque  to 
the  Chapter  and  Archbishop  of  Toledo, 
who  put  in  ten  clerks  (what  with  priests, 
deacons  and  other  clergy)  and  he  gave  the 
stronghold   to   the   Master   and    Knights 
Brethren  of  the  Temple,   who  for  eight 
years  kept  it  at  a  great  expenditure  of 
goods  and  men.     Then  when  the  Emperor 
was  dead  and  the  realm  was  divided  and 
the  Moors  were  raising  an  immense  army, 
even    over-sea,    the    Master    resigned    it 
to  Sancho  the  Desired  in  Toledo.      The 
King  offered  it  to  anyone  that  dared  the 
adventure.    No  one  appeared.    The  abbot 
of  Fitero,  D.  Raimundo,  was  at  the  court 
with  one  of  his  Cistercian  monks,  a  knight 

A  forlorn 
adventure 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

J 


10 


Stars 
caught 
in  my 
branches 


/ 


make  day 
of  the  dark 


MILITARY    ORDER  vS 


who  had  been  reared  at  the  court  of 
Alfonso  the  Emperor:  the  king  told  him 
the  situation  and  he  volunteered,  the  abbot 
assenting.  It  must  have  seemed  a  short 
cut  to  martyrdom.  The  donation  was 
signed  in  Almazan:  the  gift  being  made  to 
God  and  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  and  the 
Congregation  of  Citeaux  and  the  abbot 
Raimundo  and -his  /tT^^^^-  The  date  is 
Era  1196:  the  boundaries  begin  at  Las 
Navas  de  Tolosa  and  end  in  the  Sierra  de 
Orgaz,  including  a  region  about  twenty- 
eight  leagues  long  and  as  many  wide,  com- 
prising a  good  bit  of  the  Sierra  Morena. 

In  after  years,  when  the  other  Orders 
were  in  existence,  and  Santiago  was  estab- 
lished at  Ucles,  and  Calatrava  claimed 
the  obedience  of  Alcantara,  the  spheres  of 
influence  were  not  easy  to  defme,  but, 
roughly  speaking,  the  domain  of  Calatrava 
reached  from  the  Mountains  of  Toledo  to 
the  Sierra  Nevada  and  included,  with 
La  Mancha,  the  upper  waters  of  the 
Guadiana  and  the  Guadalquivir.  Though 
a  Castilian  foundation,  its  power  looked 
eastward,   on   the   whole:    the   first   two 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


Masters  were  Navarrese  and  the  third  was 
of  Aragon, 

It  is  curious,  but  certainly  true,  that 
while  Calatrava  had  more  power  Santiago 
had  more  glory:  the  lesser  orders  were  rang- 
ed under  the  former  but  the  greatest  and 
most  romantic  figures  belong  in  the  latter. 
Something  of  this  may  be  due  to  the  differ- 
ence in  the  original  organization :  Santiago 
was  a  brotherhood  of  gentlemen ;  Calatrava 
started  as  another  monkish  association, 
with  a  Rule  and  a  Habit.  Dress,  food  and 
behaviour  were  strictly  prescribed  and 
monastic  celibacy  enforced  for  those  that 
fought  as  well  as  those  that  prayed. 

The  abbot,  seeing  that  the  boundaries 
of  the  city  of  Calatrava  were  great  and  the 
land  fertile  and  little  peopled,  set  out  to 
look  for  a  folk:  he  went  back  to  Fitero  and 
fetched  thence  monks,  leaving  the  old  and 
the  sick  behind,  and  fetched  also  sheep  and 
cattle  and  other  movable  wealth,  and 
twenty  thousand  men  to  people  and 
defend  it  all:  Archbishop  Roderick  says 
that  he  talked  with  men  who  had  seen 
them.      In   addition,  the  Archbishop    D. 


11 


Calatrava's 
power, 
Santiago's 
glory 


How  a 

place  was 
peopled 


AND  MONOGRAPHS 


12 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

Citeaux 
gets  it 
after 
29  years 

A  few 
facts 

John  of  Toledo  had  ordered  pubhc  preach- 
ing and  given  great  pardons  to  all  that 
went  to  defend  Calatrava  by  their  persons, 
or  gave  arms  or  horse  wherewith  to  buy 
what   was   needed   to   defend   the   place. 
They  had  there,   then,   the  three  things 
necessary:    tenantry,  soldiery  and  clerkfi, 
The  incorporation  with  the  Congregation 
of  Citeaux  was  effected  only  in  1187:  that 
it  was  ever  done  is  surprising,  but  you 
would  never  guess  from  the  Histories  that 
King    or    Archbishop    had    occasion    or 
impulse  for  opposition. 

Yet  Abbot  Rayrnond,   when   he   came 
back  from  Barcelona,  governed  the  Order 
with  no  superior  spiritual  or  temporal  but 
the    Roman    Pontiff    and    the    Chapter- 
General  of  Citeaux.    Thereafter,  the  power 
was  divided  between  the  I^Iaster  and  the 
Prior  of  the  Convent  of  Calatrava;    long 
after  the  Orders  were  brought  into  subjec- 
tion by  the  Catholic  Kings  they  could 
claim  and  did  use  the  following  tokens 
and  symbols  of  this  high  place : 

The  Prior  is  cura  general  of  all  persons 
of  the  Order:    uses  Mitre  and  Pastoral 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

13 

Staff,  and  other  pontifical  insignia   and 
can  give,  like  a  Bishop,  solemn  Benedic- 
tion after  Mass,  Vespers  or  Matins:  he 
can  confer  minor  orders  on  the  conven- 
tuals,   and    consecrate    ornaments    and 
vases  for  the  use  of  the  church,  and  can 
reconcile  them  if  they  are  polluted  or 
violated. 

The  Master  has  all  the  spiritual  and 
temporal  power  possible  without  orders, 
the  Prior  having  the  rest.     He  receives 
professions  and  gives  the  habit,  adminis- 
ters or  assigns  the  benefices  and  does 
all  that  in  other  orders  the  abbots  do: 
and  for  three  hundred  and  twenty-three 
years  the  Order  was  governed  by  Mas- 
ters, from  the  sixth  year  after  its  insti- 
tution  to    1487.     Five   other   dignities 
there  were  in  addition,  and  these  are  the 
officers  that  filled  them : 

1.  Comendador  Mayor,  who  held  the 
chief  place  after  the  Master  and  ruled 
the  richest  and  most  powerful  encomi- 
enda — ^Commandery  is  the  English  word 
in  the  case  of  the  Templars. 

2.  Clavero   or    Keeper   of   the   Keys: 
through  many  a  hard  battle  the  Clavero 
of  Calatrava  carried  the  wrath  of  God. 

The 
Dignities 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

14 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

The 
Habit 

3.  The  Prior,  and 

4.  The   Sacrist,  .whose   business   was 
that  of  the  treasurer  in  cathedrals:   the 
office  drew  its  income  from  the  city  of 
La  Calzada. 

5.  The    Ohrcro    who    probably    was 
responsible    for    the    fortifications    and 
munitions  as  well  as  the  sustenance  of 
the  Order:   it  was  a  heavy  stewardship. 

A  list  of  the  Commanderies  of  the 
Order  shows  about  a  hundred  and  forty 
places. 

The  Bull  of  Alexander  III  was  given  at 
Siena  in  1 167  in  the  time  of  the  first  Master, 
D.  Frey  Garcia,  a  Navarrese.      Food  and 
dress    were    to    be    as    Abbot    Raymond 
ordained:  linen  might  not  be  worn  except 
as    underclothing,    but    leather   garments 
and  furred  cloaks  were  permitted,  and  the 
monastic  habit  was  altered  to  suit  riding 
and  fighting,  though  it  included  a  hooded 
scapular    until    in    1397    Benedict    XIII 
disallowed  it.     A  white  cloak  was  worn, 
with  a  red  cross  cut  in  lilies.     The  Rule 
required  them  to  sleep  dressed  and  girt, 
Uke    frontier   soldiers,    and    allowed    "no 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

15 

superfluity  or  curiosity  in  any  of  the 
dress"  that  they  wore.  It  required  them, 
hke  other  ReHgious,  to  keep  silence  in  the 
Oratory,  the  Refectory,  the  Dormitory 
and  the  Kitchen,  but  the  diet  was  modified 
and  their  fasting  was  like  that  of  the 
converse  or  lay  brother  among  Cistercians. 
The  prescription  of  silence  at  table  seems 
to  have  been  especially  stringent:  except 
for  the  cheerlessness  of  this,  it  looks  to  be 
a  good  rule  of  life. 

There  were  always,  besides  the  knights, 
priests  in  orders,  and  lesser  clerics,  for  the 
Offices,  the  sacraments,  and  the  sick.  The 
Master,  though  under  vows,  was,  of  course, 
a  layman,  and  after  the  first  Master  was 
elected,  or  the  second,  the  original  monks 
of  Fitero  so  resented  obedience  to  a  secular, 
that  they  were  finally  removed  to  S.  Pedro 
de  Gumiel.  I  know  nothing  of  similar 
trouble  thereafter.  The  Master  was  elected 
by  the  Order  in  chapter  assembled:  kings 
often  tried  to  dictate  the  choice  and  some- 
times succeeded. 

The  first  master  was  D.  Frey  Garcia,  a 

The  Rule 
The  first 

Navarrese,  as  said:   in  his  time  the  Papal 

Master 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

16 


Lope  de 
Vega 


Zorita 
delos 
Canes 


MILITARY    ORDERS 


Bull  was  obtained  and  apparently  the 
Cistercian  authority  acknowledged.  He 
was  an  important  figure  in  a  troubled  time, 
when  Alfonso  VIII  was  still  a  baby  and 
the  feuds  of  Castro  and  Lara  were  laying 
the  land  waste.  A  shadowy  and  ghostly 
image  in  the  rule  of  successive  Masters,  he 
is  barely  discernible  as  late  as  1178:  at 
any  rate  he  fought  the  Moors  many  times. 
D.  Frey  Fernando  Escaza  was  his  suc- 
cessor, and  assisted  at  the  siege  of  Zorita. 
Now  the  tale  of  the  Siege  of  Zorita  is  a 
tract,  and  admirably  edifying  when  Rades 
y  Andrada  relates  it,  who  knows  well  how 
to  adorn  a  moral.  When  Lope  de  Vega  in 
his  turn  gives  an  act  or  two  to  the  great 
castle,  wherein  the  seneschal  is  noble- 
hearted,  the  traitor  ingeniously  false,  and 
the  barber  deftly  villainous,  he  supplies 
better  reading  than  The  Troublesome  Raigne 
of  King  John.  But  the  whole  story  is  too 
rich  to  be  put  off  into  a  paragraph  here, 
and  the  ruined  castle  and  church,  whereon 
Torres  Campos  y  B  albas  has  published 
most  excellent  matter,  are  too  splendid  to 
be  overlooked,  and  Zorita  de  los  Canes 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

17 

must  be  left  apart  for  a  more  convenient 
season.  Five  years  later  the  King  gave 
Zorita  to  the  Order  to  defend  it  from  the 
Moors,  that  were  too  close  by  far. 

Cuenca  indeed  was  seemingly  founded 
by  the  Moors,  for  Romans  and  Visigoths 
name  it  not,  and  like"  Burgos  it  begins 
existence  within  the  Reconquest.  The 
beautiful  cathedral  bears  marks  of  English 
invention  and  handiwork,  in  conception 
and  adornment,  and  enshrines  the  memory 
of  the  loveliest  of  English  queens  in  Castile, 
Dofia  Leonor.  All  the  tierra  de  Cuenca  is 
dotted  with  commanderies  of  the  Orders, 
from  Ocafia  to  Cafiete  and  from  Requena 
to  Albarracin.  Though  the  story  of 
Albarracin  is  as  good  as  that  of  Zorita, 
and  prettier,  it  is  less  momentous  for  the 
Order.  And  the  exploits  of  D.  Frey  Fer- 
nando are  not  yet  all  told. 

From  Calatrava  he  raided  the  Moors  by 
the  Port  of  Muradal,  that  opens  on  the 
richest  of  the  Andalusian  plain,  and  took 
the  Castle  of  Ferral:  then  as  the  knights 
were  moving,  with  booty  and  prisoners, 
he   let   one   prisoner   loose   to   report   his 

Cuenca 
Albarracin 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

18 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

A  war  by 
raiding 

advance  at  tJbeda.     But  the  IMoors  did 
not  come  to  look  for  him.    Later,  however, 
those  of  Ubeda  and  Baeza  gathered  a  great 
force,  and  besieged  Ferral  for  ten  days. 
He,  being  forewarned,  had  sent  to  Toledo 
for  help,  and  to  all  the  cities  of  his  Order, 
and  thrown  himself  into  the  threatened 
castle  in  time.    There  was  a  battle  finally, 
about  where  that  of  Las  Navas  was  later 
to  be  fought,  and  there  many  died  on  both 
sides.    Returning  to  Calatrava  victorious, 
he  divided  the  spoil  and  gave  the  greater 
part  to  the  Toledans  in  recompense  for 
their  good  help,  and  the  city  had  great 
rejoicing     and    the     archbishop    ordered 
thanksgiving  in  the  cathedral  and  a  pro- 
cession.   A  set  battle  was  a  serious  matter, 
and  much  of  the  warfare  consisted  rather 
in  skilful  raids  enhanced  by  brilliant  skir- 
mishes: Argote  de  Mohna  copies  out  with 
quiet  complacency  the  story  of  this  Mas- 
ter's return  from  his  latest  exploit  in  which 
he  captured  many  Moors  who  were  going 
about  the  country,  and  came  home  driving 
— he  and  his  freyles — plenty  of  fine  cattle 
before  them,   and  so  entered  into  Cala- 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

19 

trava   rich    and  much  honoured.      Then, 
being  very  old,  he  resigned  the  A^Tastership, 
though  he  seems  to  have  used  the  title  to 
the  close  of  his  life.    When  that  was,  no 
one  knows. 

His  successor  was  less  thrifty  but  in  the 
end  no  less  successful:    D.  Martin  Perez 
de  Siones  of  Tarazona.    The  town  lies  in 
Aragon.     This  may  have  accounted  for 
some   of  his   difficulties,   but   it   brought 
advantage  to  the  Order.     Early  in  his  ad- 
ministration there  was  a  sort  of  mutiny: 
the    Master   was    raiding    Moreria,    both 
northward  and  southward,  when  the  Moors 
captured   the    castle   of   Almodovar;     he 
pursued  them  as  soon  as  he  could,  captured 
more  than  two  hundred,  and  killed  every 
one.      The    knights    were    indignant,    for 
these  prisoners  might  have  been  sold  and 
thus  have  paid  the  expenses  of  the  war, 
or  they  might  have  been  exchanged  for 
Christian  captives.    Furthermore,  the  loot 
was  not  divided  to  their  hking,  and  they 
wrote  up  to  D.  Diego  Garcia,  still  living 
at   Calatrava,   who   suggested   that   they 
should  depose  the  present  Master.     His 

with  profit 
for  all 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

20 


The  Master 
holds  out 


and  adds 
bene- 
factions 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


motives  were  probably  no  more  than  spleen, 
and  the  irritability  that  comes  with  old 
age.  One  by  one  the  knights  got  leave 
from  Almodovar,  on  various  pretexts,  and 
corrling  up  to  Calatrava  held  an  election, 
but  the  clerks  took  no  part  and  sent  word 
to  the  Master,  and  the  trouble  died  away. 
To  clear  his  character  it  should  be  added 
that  the  Moors  when  they  took  Almodovar 
had  massacred  seventy  Christians  and  the 
retaliation  was  meant  for  a  lesson,  doubt- 
less. Shortly  afterwards  he  founded  a 
hospital  and  Alfonso  of  Castile  dowered  it 
well;  he  went  on  a  raid  with  the  King  of 
Aragon;  he  was  present  at  the  taking  of 
Cuenca  and  won  for  the  Order  some 
important  houses  and  other  property. 
These  later  were  exchanged  for  others  with 
the  Order  of  Santiago.  In  recognition  of 
their  great  services  the  King  of  Aragon 
gave  to  Calatrava  the  city  _pf_  Alcaiiiz. 
with  the  consent  of  the  grandees;  but 
apparently  the  inhabitants  were  not  well 
content.  At  any  rate,  four  years  later  it 
was  bestowed  again,  this  time  on  D.  Martin 
Ruiz    who    called    himself    Master,    with 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

21 

obligation  to  observe  the  king's  pacts  and 
truces  with  the  Moors. 

Alcaniz  remained  the  High  Commandery 
of  Calatrava,  in  Aragon.     Sometimes  it 
recognized  the  mother  convent,  sometimes 
it  set  up  for  an  independent  order.    What 
remains  of  architecture  in  the  beautiful 
unvisited  little  town  is  mainl}^  of  the  rich 
late  Gothic  and  delicate  Italianate  styles 
that  obtained  likewise  in  the  seats  of  the 
Order  in  the  south,  at  Daimiel  and  Alma- 
gro.    It  fell  to  be  an  appanage  of  princes; 
but  Bourbons,  having  no  pride  or  part  in 
the  great  inheritance  to  which  they  came, 
forgot  it.    It  lies  still  forgotten  among  the 
hills. 

1 

The  next  Master,  being  a  Leonese  of  a 
great  name,  D.  Nufio  Perez  de  Quinones, 
was  able  to  make  advantageous  adjust- 
ments with  the  Order  of  Santiago.     Some 
of  these   have   been  named,   and   Ocana 
was  among  the  cities  exchanged.    He  made 
likewise  a  pact  of  brotherhood  {herman- 

Alcaniz 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

22 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

dad)  and  confederation  with  tlie  Master 
of  Santiago  for  mutual  support. 

Old 

vestments 

of 

Cordovan 
workman- 
ship 

A  chasuble  of  cramoisy  taffetas,  with  its 
dalmatics,  and  with  some  panizos  of  gold 
and  silver,  of  very  ancient  workmanship — 
these  things  were  long  preserved  at  the 
Convent  of  Calatrava.  It  was  believed 
that  they  were  made  from  the  dress  of  a 
Moorish  prisoner  whom  D.  Frey  Nufio 
captured  in  a  raid  and  ultimately  put  to 
ransom.  He  had  proved  to  be  the  brother 
of  the  Queen  of  Cordova :  and  for  her  sake 
the  King,  his  kinsman,  gave  fifty  Chris- 
tians in  exchange,  of  whom  four  were 
knights  of  Calatrava.  In  the  perishing 
silken  stuff  so  reverently  preserved,  in  the 
fading  broideries  and  the  blackening  silver 
and  the  tarnishing  gold,  lives  the  symbol 
of  the  exquisite  civilization  of  the  south, 
already  passing.  She  was  very  beautiful, 
that  woman,  and  very  well  beloved,  as 
Itimad  had  been  loved  before  her  by  the 
King  who  planted  all  the  Sierra  de  Cordova 
with  almond  trees  to  make  a  snow  for  his 
love  to  pleasure  her  eyes.  Mutamid  was 
dead  in  exile  long  since,  and  pilgrims  had 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

23 

kissed  the  dust  from  his  tomb  in  Aghmat; 
the  Berbers  had  sacked  the  cities  and  from 
Alorocco    Almoravides    had    ruled;     the 
Almohades  now  reigned  throughout  Anda- 
lusia.     Though  ravished  by  the  African, 
still  Cordova  was  fair  beyond  comparison, 
musical  with  poets  and  fountains,  fragrant 
with  hea\^  flowers  and  pale  women,  rich 
in  all  the  arts  of  life,  and  the  subtilties  of 
the  doctors:  Averroes  was  there. 

The  memory  of  it,  doubtless,  was  still 
fresh  for  these  four  red-crossed  veterans 
on  their  return,  sitting  silent,  in  white,  at 
the  long  table  among  their  sunburnt  mates, 
while  under  the  heavy   arched  vault  of 
brooding  Romanesque  stone-work  the  lec- 
tor's voice  rolled  on  in  Latin  as  intelli- 
gible to  them  as  their  yet-hardly-altered 
Romance  speech,   and  the  strange  shrill 
Arabic  of  the  court-poets  was  hardly  out 
of  their  ears — for  instance,  that  couplet ; 

They  passed  with  ceremony  and  with 

song. 
With  clouds  about  their  feet  they  passed 

along. 

The 

Cordovan 

civilization 

The 
convent  life 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

24 


Defence 
of  Chris- 
tianity 


The  rising 
tide 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


It  was  this  same  Master  who  concluded 
the  affiUation  to  Citeaux,  going  to  the 
Chapter-General  in  Burgundy,  in  1187, 
and  reporting  what  the  knights  of  the 
Order  were  doing  in  defence  of  the  Catholic 
faith,  which  meant,  in  truth,  at  the 
moment,  European  civilization.  Gregory 
VIII  was  to  confirm  everything  in  due 
time. 

The  Moors  were  gathering  a  great  army 
and  he  strengthened  Calatrava  and  forti- 
fied other  places.  He  had  probably  fore- 
seen this  and  gone  to  Burgundy  to  urge 
the  need  of  help,  which  Spain  needed  then 
as  sorely  as  in  Count  Raymond's  and 
Count  Henry's  days.  The  dark  tide  of 
invasion  coming  in  across  Calpe  and  Tarifa 
was  mounting  fast,  the  waves  were  coming 
nearer  with  every  spring,  and  they  washed 
back  not  so  far.  The  great  third  wave 
broke  in  the  battle  of  Alarcos. 

It  was  a  great  defeat.  The  Masters  of 
Santiago  and  Calatrava  were  there,  but 
the  Castilian  nobles  would  not  fight,  for 
Alfonso  their  king  had  said  that  his  knights 
of  Estremadura  were  good  enough  to  meet 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


the  Moors  with.  Characteristically,  they 
preferred  to  die,  and  spent  their  lives  to 
avenge  themselves  on  the  King.  The 
Master  of  Santiago,  a  Gallegan,  died  there 
too:  and  the  King  came  out  of  the  fight 
with  nothing  but  the  bridle  in  his  hand, 
says  the  historian  of  the  Arabs.  He 
wanted  rather  to  die  than  go  back  to  Toledo 
shamed,  but  his  people  pulled  him  out  and 
forced  him  away.  The  Christians  made  a 
stand  at  a  pass  between  La  Zarzuela  and 
Darazutan;  they  all  were  killed  or  taken. 
Those  that  fled  got  into  the  castle  of 
Guadalherza — where  the  hospice  was — 
with  the  Master  escorting  and  defending 
the  King;  others  got  to  Calatrava;  others, 
among  them  the  Counts  of  Haro  and  of 
Lara,  shut  themselves  up  in  the  castle  of 
Alarcos,  where  the  Moors  laid  siege  and 
took  it  by  storm.  Some  books,  however, 
say  that  Lope  de  Haro  fled,  with  the  King's 
flag,  to  the  castle  of  Alarcos,  leaving  his 
lord  in  the  battle,  and  afterwards  surren- 
dered the  castle  to  the  Moors:  and  there 
are  uglier  stories  yet  of  his  breaking  a 
solemn  pledge  and  escaping  after  the  sur- 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


25 


Proof  by 
dying 


Was  Lope 
de  Haro  a 

traitor? 


26 


Calatrava 
was  lost 


The  Battle 
of  Alarcos 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


render  with  his  sons-in-law,  leaving  Fernan 
Ruiz  de  Castro  to  take  all  the  consequences. 
At  any  rate  the  Moors  took  Calatrava  also, 
and  killed  all  the  freyles  there,  and  many 
other  Christians. 

So  the  histories  tell  it,  and,  as  Cervantes 
once  said,  the  story  is  so  old  it  must  be 
true.  It  is  a  good  story,  both  the  tragedy 
and  the  sorry  part.  But  the  Primera 
Coronica  General,  the  first  complete  history 
of  Spain,  which  is  the  book  of  el  Rey  Sahio, 
does  better.  It  incorporates  some  frag- 
ments of  elder  poetry,  like  carved  capitals 
and  corbels  built  into  a  house  wall.  This 
is  epical:  it  is  one  of  the  canlilenes  that 
French  scholars  used  to  postulate,  though 
I  think  myself  it  is  the  remnant,  and  not 
the  germ,  of  a  great  poetry. 

Then  Mazemut  in  his  triremes  set  sail 

from  the  African  cove, 
And  his  folk  were  beyond  the  telling,  so 

great  was  the  throng  thereof. 
And  like  the  sands  of  the  seashore,  as 

they  crossed  by  the  Straits  of 

the  South, 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

27 

And   reached  the   city  of   Seville,   and 

brought  to  Cordova  drouth. 
For  he  set  his  face  to  Alarcos,  his  wrath 

on  Toledo  bent, 
The  plains  of  Tolosa  were  barren  behind 

him,  the  ways  that  he  went 
He  widened  with  track  of  horseshoes,  the 

mountain  gorges  between, 
And  the  streams  ran  dry — where  the  folk 

of   his   following   passed — that 

were  green. 
The  fame  of  their  coming  hurried  more 

swift  than  the  flight  of  a  bird, 
Scattered  abroad  through  the  country 

till  every  least  village  had  heard. 
The  light-footed  news  waked  fury;    yet 

the  sound  of  the  message  was 

joy, 
The  foeman's  coming  was  welcomed  as 

love  by  the  heart  of  a  boy. 
What  man  knows  God's  intention,  or  the 

way  of  the  Most  High? 
Nor  any  son  of  Adam  His  counsel  may 

espy. 
When  the  hosts  were  joined  in  battle,  and 

Christians  had  lost  the  day. 
The  noble  King  Alfonso  his  own  men 

forced  away 

The 

fragment  of 
a  lost  epic 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

28 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

Reconstruc- 
tion 

And  only  the  noble  wisdom  of  his  own 

folk  in  that  hour 
Saved   him  from  death   or  capture   in 

midst  of  the  battle's  stour. 
And  after  the  day  was  ended,  and  the 

battle  lost  and  done 
The  Moors  took  certain  castles,  and  they 

held  them,  all  that  they  won. 
Now  this    was   Alarcos  battle;    in  July 

they  came  to  strive, 
In  the  year  of  Our  Lord  Incarnate  eleven 

and  ninety-five. 

So  the  Moors  came  up  and  besieged 
Toledo  and  withdrew;  and  in  the  south, 
where  all  the  work  of  half  a  century  was  to 
be  done  again,  the  Master  fell  to  it.  There 
was  a  little  house  at  Ciruelos,  where  Abbot 
Raymond  had  ended  his  days  and  found 
burial:  what  was  left  of  the  Order  he 
settled  there,  "and  he  gave  the  habit  to 
many  knights  that,  by  God's  providence, 
asked  for  it,"  as  great  hearts  are  alwa3'^s 
prompt  for  the  hopeless  enterprise. 

Politicians  are  prompt,  too,  and  those  of 
Aragon  snatched  this  moment  to  elect  a 
Master   at   Alcafiiz,    D.    Garci   Lopez   de 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


Moventa,  hoping  to  get  control  of  the 
whole  machinery  while  shattered.  Alcaniz, 
notwithstanding,  remained,  as  said  above, 
no  more  than  encomienda  mayor,  the  Mas- 
ter going  up,  in  a  lull  about  1207,  and 
adjusting  matters.  But  there  was  little 
rest.  The  Master  D.  Nuno  being  past 
fighting  now,  he  sent  out  the  knights  under 
D.  Martin  Martinez,  and  they  took  Salva- 
tierra  in  the  Campo  de  Calatrava  and  trans- 
lated the  convent  thither;  and  four  years 
later  elected  D.  Martin  with  the  title, 
Master  of  Salvatierra.  Then  the  Moors 
besieged  that  castle  for  three  months,  and 
took  it,  and  pulled  it  down,  and  the  con- 
vent passed  to  Zorita,  and  again  many 
candidates  received  the  habit.  It  is  likely 
that  nearly  any  one  will  be  received  at  such 
a  time,  if  so  that  he  be  able-bodied,  but 
applicants  know  that  if  it  is  a  short  road 
to  nobility  it  is  also  a  short  cut  to  heaven, 
and  at  the  cross-roads  they  stand,  well- 
content. 


I 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


29 


Ambition 
in  Aragon 


A  sure 
chance  for 
Paradise 


30 


The  storm- 
tide  of  the 
13th 
century 


In  Toledo 


MILITARY    ORDERS 


There  are  times  at  the  autumnal  equinox, 
if  a  strong  wind  is  blowing,  that  the  tide 
never  goes  down  at  all,  but  as  the  hours 
pass  and  high -water  comes  around  again, 
it  rises  still,  mounts  inland,  and  climbing 
threatens  to  overwhelm  the  shore. 

The  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  D.  Rodrigo 
Ximenez  de  Rada,  went  to  Rome,  and  into 
France,  preaching  a  crusade,  urgently 
asking  help,  warning  the  princes  of  Europe 
of  what  would  happen  if  Spain  were  over- 
whelmed. The  princes  of  Europe  were 
occupied,  but  they  permitted  what  we 
should  call  "a  drive"  and  "propaganda." 
Of  volunteers  there  was  no  lack :  the  chance 
offered  adventure,  loot,  and  salvation,  all 
at  once.  By  February  of  1212  Toledo  was 
filling  up  with  foreigners,  chiefly  French 
and  Italian.  The  Four  Gauls  sent  swarms 
of  men — gentlemen  and  enthusiasts,  ruf- 
fians and  criminals,  all  classes  and  all 
kinds  more  or  less  in  contact,  all  marked 
with  the  cross,  visibly,  on  the  shoulder. 
Queen  Leonor  drew  from  her  father's 
continental  domain,  and  the  Archbishop  of 
Bordeaux  came  in  person:  so  also  a  myste- 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

31 

rious  D.  Tybalt  de  Blazon,  of  Poitou,  with 
his  retainers,  ''who  was  a  noble  man  and  a 
liberal,    a    Spaniard    born    of    Castilian 
lineage."     He  was  a  loyal  gentleman,  as 
will  appear.    Arnault  of  Narbonne  brought 
thither  his  pack  of  war-dogs,  still  reeking 
with    blood    from    Beziers    and    Carca- 
sonne;  and  he  never  left  the  scent,  and  he 
Uved    to    be    abbot    of    Citeaux,    as    D. 
Roderick  recalls.    The  Lombard  communes 
sent  their  quota  and  the  Ghibelline  cities, 
and  Rome:    Ytalia,  to  the  Spanish  chroni- 
cler, means  either  Lombardia  or  Roma — 
all  these  came  "como  en  romeria,"  to  save 
their  souls:   all  these  are  classed  together, 
by    the    early    historians,    as    outlanders. 
The  throngs  described  by  D.  Roderick  as 
"from  beyond  the  Ports  of  Aspe,"  I  take 
to  be  a  great  wave  from  the  first  epoch  of 
the  Albigensian  persecution,  part  soldiery 
of  the  black-and-tan  order,  part  refugees. 
On   the   octave    of     Pentecost   arrived 
King  Peter  of  Aragon,  coming  by  forced 
marches  from  Cuenca,  anxiously  expected 
and  received  with   processions  and   with 
thanksgiving.     Among  the  great  lords  of 

A 

mustering 
of  many- 
folk 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

32 


^So  the 
book:  more 
likely 
Tarazona 


A  great 
leader 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


Aragon  who  accompanied  him  were  the 
Archbishop  of  Tarragona,  *  and  his  brother- 
elect  of  Barcelona;  Cardonas  and  Cerveras 
from  Catalonia,  others  of  the  old  rock  with 
such  names  as  D.  Aznal  Pardo.  They 
were  accommodated  on  the  other  shore  of 
the  Tagus,  in  the  King's  own  domain 
there.  Portuguese  were  there  as  well, 
though  their  King  excused  himself;  D. 
Sancho  of  Navarre  likewise  had  refused  to 
participate  but  he  could  not  endure,  in  the 
end,  to  stay  away  from  where  civilization 
was  at  stake  and  Spain  was  the  issue,  and 
he  arrived  in  the  south  at  a  fortunate 
moment. 

King  Alfonso  had  a  hard  winter.  He 
had  long  been  preparing  in  every  way 
imaginable:  he  had  asked  his  nobles  to 
sacrifice  the  ornaments  of  their  dress  and 
turn  the  value  into  arms  and  equipment, 
according  as  each  one  lacked.  In  Toledo, 
as  the  foreigners  came  in,  he  saw  to  quar- 
tering them  where  they  could  be  under- 
stood, and  could  not  quarrel:  he  did  not 
disdain  to  go  about  himself,  nor  shrink  from 
sending  the  higher  clergy  to  talk  with  them 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

33 

in  their  own  languages  and  cheer  them  and 
content  them,  now  with  tact  and  again 
with  gifts.    The  "morale "  of  the  mustering 
at  Toledo  was  superb,  and  it  was  the  King's 
doing.    He  kept  his  temper,  and  his  wits, 
well  in  hand,  and  went  about  like  Holin- 
shed's  King  Harry,  and  he  gave  whatever 
was  needed,  and  he  gave  more,  for  "the 
history  says   that   among  his   gifts   were 
many  noble  horses  of  lineage,  and  stuffs 
of  many  sorts  that  gave  delight  with  their 
lovely   semblance."      There    was   a   fixed 
allowance  for  each  knight,  and  for  each 
foot-soldier,  and,  as  one  likes  to  remember, 
something  also  for  women,  and  young  lads, 
and  those  not  fit  to  fight;    and  for  them, 
later,  a  ration  of  food,  and  baggage  wagons, 
and  draught-animals  and  beasts  of  burden. 
The  Castilians  were  coming  in  now  with 
the  warm  weather,  great  lords  and  private 
gentlemen  and  a  contingent  from  each  of 
the  three  communities  of  Castile:  Segovia, 
A  Vila    and    Medina.      The    bishops    were 
strictly  Castilian:   they  represented  Osma, 
Sigiienza,    Palencia   and   Avila.      All   the 
orders  had  mustered:  Ruiz  Diaz,  Master  of 

Morale 

The 

Spanish 

array 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

► 


34 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

for  the 
battle  of 
Armaged- 
don 

Calatrava,   with   his  Religious — brethren, 
good  knights  and  God's  friends,  and  hardy; 
the  Templars  under  their  Master  Gomez 
Ruiz,  the  Hospital  with  the  Prior  Gutier 
Alvilles,  and  with  the  Knights  of  Santiago 
the  Master  D.  Pedro  Arias.     That  these 
had  sworn  never  to   quit  their  religion, 
betrays  how  often  and  how  easily  men 
might  end  their  lives  in  Moreria  as  wealthy 
renegades.      Diego   Lopez   de   Haro   had 
gathered  and  organized  the  hosts  of  the 
northern  shore:    Biscay ans,  Asturians  and 
even  Gallegans  he  had  under  his  command, 
and  he  seems  to  have  ranked  with  the 
Kings. 

To  Spaniards  it  was  a  solemn  season, 
and  they  walked  warily,  needing  to  placate 
God;    the   lesson   of  Alarcos   being   yet 
present  in  mind.     ''From  the  great  cities 
and  the  castles  on  every  side,  came  gentle- 
men well  arrayed  at  all  points,  with  horse 
and   arms   in   plenty,   with   harness   and 
meat  abundant  for  each  man's  self  and 
his  mount,  which  they  shared  each  with 
his  fellow,  being  used  and  disciplined  to 
the  custom  of  arms  and  the  nobility  of 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


hoi  semanship.  And  humbly  all  came  for 
the  great  hazard  of  the  faith  and  the  law 
of  Christ,  constantly  mindful  and  con- 
strained by  the  greatness  of  what  should 
be."    So  the  chronicle. 

'And  about  midsummer  in  this  year  set 
forward  from  Toledo  to  go  down  to  battle, 
the  host  of  the  Lord  God.  In  front  went 
those  from  across  the  mountains,  and  Diego 
Lopez  de  Hare  was  appointed  them  for  a 
leader."  This  was  a  measure  of  simple 
precaution  on  the  King's  part:  he  dared 
not  leave  them  out  of  sight.  They  took 
Malagon  and  killed  all  the  Moors  there, 
and  apparently  they  wasted  the  land,  for 
already  the  army  was  in  straits,  with  a 
cruel  shortage  of  food.  The  divers  divi- 
sions moved  by  divers  roads;  Calatrava 
was  appointed  for  a  rendezvous.  The 
Moors,  it  will  be  remembered,  held  that 
castle  and  had  fortified  it  further.  They 
had  sown  calthrops  over  the  approaches 
and  in  the  fords  of  the  Guadiana;  neverthe- 
less, by  God's  help  it  was  taken.  The  story 
is  a  good  one  as  the  Coronica  General 
rehearses  it,  with  the  sense  of  God's  mighty 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


35 


Cachorros 
del  leon 


The 

taking  of 
Calatrava 


36 


The  return 
of  the 
outlanders 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


hand,  and  His  stretched-out  arm,  still 
shadowing  and  exalting  the  style.  The 
Arab  King  was  so  stricken  by  the  loss  of 
the  castle  that  for  wrath  he  could  not  eat  or 
drink. 

Of  the  spoil  King  Alfonso  kept  nothing. 
He  divided  it  between  the  Aragonese  and 
the  outlanders,  and  what  with  quarrels, 
and  the  fatness  of  the  present  loot,  the 
outlanders  at  this  point  went  home  again. 
It  is  shameful,  but  it  befell.  Amaut  of 
Narbonne  and  his  ruffians  of  the  south 
stayed  there,  scenting  carrion  beyond  the 
Pass  of  Muradal;  and  D.  Tybalt  de 
Blazon  and  his  own  retainers  stayed 
because  he  was  a  gentleman  and  a  Spaniard. 
In  all,  out  of  the  great  host  that  had 
assembled  at  Toledo,  and  been  fed  there 
and  dowered  with  gifts,  and  had  pickings 
along  the  south-bound  road,  and  had  the 
loot  of  Calatrava,  there  remained  but  seven 
hundred  and  thirty  knights  of  gentle  blood, 
and  such  footmen  as  cared  to  abide  or  were 
feudatories  of  Spaniards. 

So  the  foreigners  move  off  the  scene, 
and  the  Spaniards  are  left  to  save  Europe 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


if  they  can — for  the  truth  is  that  D.  Alfonso 
VIII  did  at  Las  Navas  in  1212  what  D. 
John  of  Austria  did  at  Lepanto  in  15^1: 
he  lifted  the  terror  that  lay  upon  men's 
spirits.  It  was  three  centuries  and  a  half 
before  the  great  wave  gathered  again.  In 
another  four  centuries  and  a  half  thereafter, 
or  something  less,  men  were  to  shiver  and 
shrink  before  the  same  terror,  and  the 
Asiatic  multitudes  to  be  in  men's  minds  a 
mighty  affright;  and  the  Powers  to-day  are 
assembling  machinery,  and  for  arms  they 
manufactiu^e  poisons.  But  our  story  lies 
with  the  Spanish  host  who  moved  to  this 
battle  as  to  an  atonement. 

As  they  reached  Alarcos,  Sancho  of 
Navarre  arrived,  for  "when  came  the  day 
of  battle  and  the  danger,  he  could  not 
withhold  from  God's  service  his  hardihood 
nor  his  heart."  The  three  Kings  took 
counsel  together  in  name  of  the  Trinity: 
the  case  looked  desperate  and  daily  men 
were  deserting  to  the  Moors.  The  castle 
of  El  Farral  was  in  the  Moors'  hands  now, 
who  planned  to  trap  the  army  in  the  narrow 
pass  and  destroy  it  leisurely  where  rocks 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


37 


\  * 


Moors, 
Turks,    and 
Japanese 


The 

Battle  of 
Las  Navas 


'6L.-^..._ 


?v. 


fjo 


38 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

The  tent 

The 
shepherd 

overhung  and  a  stream  filled  up  the  gorge : 
but  the  Count  of  Haro  with  a  vanguard 
took  the  ascent  of  the  pass  and  the  host 
followed  him  and  took  the  castle.    Thence 
looking  into  the  valley  of  Las  Navas  they 
could  see  the  red  tent  of  the  Moorish  leader; 
it    was — as    they    were    to    see    later — of 
cramoisy  velvet,  embroidered  richly  with 
gold   and   sown  with   precious   stones   of 
inestimable  value.    And  to  them  there  God 
sent  a  shepherd  who  knew  the  hills,  and 
he  showed  them  a  way.    So  they  left  the 
castle  and  the  Moors  came  back,  rather 
surprised:      indeed     one     hoary     general 
observed  in  the  midst  of  their  barbaric 
rejoicings  that  the  array  of  the  Christian 
host  looked  more  like  order  of  battle  than 
like  retreat.     But  the  scarlet  tent  blazed 
in  the  sun  and  the  sound  of  kettle-drums 
and  nakirs  came  up  to  the  Christians  among 
the  hills. 

All  Saturday  they  lay  there,  and  Sunday, 
with  only  one  skirmish  when  the  Moors 
arrived  to  investigate,  and  found  out,  and 
withdrew.    The  army  confessed  and  com- 
municated   and    was    ready    and    rather 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


anxious  to  die,  for  it  would  have  been  a 
good  death,  and  heaven,  for  once  in  a  man's 
life,  would  have  been  sure.  The  King  of 
Navarre  knighted  his  nephew  there,  that 
day;  and  the  Count  of  Roussillon,  his  son. 
Shortly  after  midnight  the  call  was 
blown  and  the  word  was  spread:  "Arise 
all  in  God's  name  and  arm  for  the  battle 
of  the  Lord."  The  bagpipes  screamed 
among  the  rocks  and  the  olifaunts  brayed 
as  for  the  Day  of  Doom,  and  the  Spanish 
host  was  drawn  out.  They  lifted  up  their 
hands  to  heaven.  They  lifted  up  their 
hearts  to  martyrdom.  The  Count  of  Haro 
led  the  van:  the  King  of  Aragon  and  the 
four  Orders  constituted  one  wing  and 
Ruy  Diaz  de  los  Cameros  with  his  brother 
Alvar  Diaz,  and  other  noblemen  with  them, 
the  other  wing,  and  the  King  of  Navarre 
led  these;  and  in  the  rear-guard  were 
placed  King  Alfonso  of  Castile,  and  the 
Archbishop  Don  Roderick,  the  other 
bishops,  and  Spanish  nobles,  many  of 
whose  names  are  Gallegan  or  Asturian. 
And  in  each  of  these  divisions  were  posted 
the  commons  of  the  noble  cities,  Segovia, 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


39 


"A  heaven 
taken  by 
storm 


where  none 
are  left  but 
the  slain" 


40 


The 
roll-call 
of  honour 


A  rampart 
of  live  flesh 


M  ILITARY     ORDERS 


Avila  and  Medina.  Argote  de  Molina, 
writing  in  the  sixteenth  century,  calls  the 
roll  of  the  army,  made  up  from  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  noble  houses  that  fought  there. 
All  the  history  of  Spain  is  in  that  roll-call 
of  the  sons  of  the  great  dead,  and  the 
ensamples  of  the  good  knights  to  come. 

The  Moorish  host  was  a  huge  and  horri- 
ble mass  of  many  nations,  sheer  flesh  and 
bone  to  dull  steel's  edge  and  encvunber 
horses'  passage.  Their  centre  was  upon  a 
little  eminence  within  an  enclosure  made  of 
living  bodies,  linked  leg  to  leg,  and  there 
the  bravest  fighting-men  were  stationed  and 
the  King  among  them.  He  was  wrapped 
in  the  old  black  cloak  of  the  Berber 
conqueror,  his  ancestor,  and  sword  and 
Koran  were  with  him  in  either  hand.  No 
wonder  the  slaughter  was  unlimited:  row 
by  row  the  turbans  went  down  and  men  lay 
chained  as  they  fell.  The  living  rampart 
was  impossible  to  scale:  the  men  of  Haro 
wavered  and  fell  back.  Then  said  the 
King  aloud,  to  D.  Rodrigo:  "Archbishop, 
you  and  I  will  die  here."  And  the  young 
cleric  answered:    ''Lord,   trust  God  and 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

41 

we  will  do  better  than  die."    On  the  flag 
beating  over  their  head  was  broidered  the 
image  of  Mary,  God's  Mother,  the  Virgin, 
"Our  Mother,"  as  Spaniards  yet  call  her 
in  Zamora.     The  King  tried  to  advance, 
but  his  nobles  put  him  back.     Then  the 
King  said  again,  and  he  never  changed 
colour,  nor  did  his  voice  alter:   ''You  and 
I  will  die  here,  for  in  such  a  place  death 
is  good";    and  the  Archbishop  answered 
again — "If  God  please,  victory  is  yours 
and  not  death;  but  if  otherwise  seem  good 
to  God,  we  are  ready  to  die  with  you  and 
for  you."     Then  the  banner  moved  for- 
ward and  the  Moors  broke.     The  Arch- 
bishop   said:      "Lord,    remember    God's 
mercy  that  he  has  done  you  this  day," 
and  again  he  said,  "Lord,  forget  not  your 
good  knights  and  your  noble  folk  by  whose 
aid  you  have  attained  so  great  a  glory;" 
and  then  he  began  to  sing  the  Te  Deum, 
and  the  bishops  took  it  up  and  the  other 
clerks  there,  and  sang  it  through  to  the  end. 
The  Moorish  King  Almiramomelin  fled 
on  a  great  red  horse:   and  when  those  of 
Baeza  saw  him  at  their  gate  and  asked  him 

Virgen 
que  el  sol 
mas  pura 

Te  Deum 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

42 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

Discipline 
The  spoil 

what  to  do  he  said,  "I  have  no  counsel  for 
myself  nor  for  you,"  and  changed  horses 
and  went  on  to  Jaen. 

But  on  the  field  of  Las  Navas  the  work 
was  finishing.    Not  unmindful  of  Calatrava, 
the  Kings  had  ordered  straitly  that  none 
should  stop  for  looting,  and  the  knights 
were  busy  still.     D.  Roderick  notes  with 
surprise  that,  though  the  dead  were  tall 
men  and  stout,  no  blood  was  seen  upon  the 
field.     The  wretched  masses  overthrown 
must  have  suffocated  in  heaps,  been  crushed 
and  trampled,  been  clubbed  and  battered, 
and  doubtless  also  been  picked  up  as  part 
of  the  spoil.     The  chronicler  piles  it  up 
hastily:     "There  was  much  gold  taken, 
much  silver  and  many  precious  stuffs  of 
silk,  and  many  jewels  and  much  money, 
and  many  vases  and  cups ;  and  all  this  was 
taken  by  the  foot-soldiers  and  by  some 
knights  of  Aragon:  for  those  who  had  zeal 
for  the  faith  and  love  for  Our  Lord,  and 
loved  the  Law  and  knew  what  shame  is, 
stayed  strictly  at  their  proper  business,  to 
them  victory  was  wealth  and  honour  and 
glory:  and  withal  they  laboured  till  night- 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


f  all . "  The  scarlet  pavilion  was  taken  home , 
however,  into  the  north  by  King  Peter  of 
Aragon  for  a  token,  like  that  tent  of 
Francis  I,  still  preserved  in  the  Armoury 
at  Madrid:  and  the  chains  thereof  were 
set  about  the  shield  of  Navarre,  and  the 
banner  from  above  it  hangs  still  in  the 
Convent  of  Las  Huelgas  de  Burgos. 

When  night  fell,  the  host  sat  down  within 
the  tents — 'Hired  but  happy,"  says  the 
chronicler,  as  though  they  had  but  passed 
the  day  in  woodcraft.  They  had  taken 
not  only  camels  but  other  beasts  as  well, 
and  they  supped  full:  and  for  firewood  for 
all  the  army  the  broken  lances  and  the 
arrows  sufficed  so  long  as  they  stayed  there. 
The  third  day  they  moved. 

When  they  took  Baeza  they  burned  the 
mosque  and  therein  those  who  had  taken 
refuge  there;  but  when  they  came  to 
tJbeda  the  citizens  offered  to  pay  a  high 
ransom  for  their  lives  and  city  and  the 
Kings  would  fain  have  accepted.  The 
clergy  would  not  admit  it:  they  had  not 
borne  this  war,  they  said,  to  leave  in  the 
midst  of  recovered  and  rechristened  land 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


43 


and  about 
a  chapel  in 
Pampeluna 
cloister 


The  clergy_ 
exacts  the _ 
worst 


44 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

Heathen- 
dom un- 
profitable 

So  told 
D.  Rodrigo 

a   canker   of   heathendom   which   should 
spread  till  at  last  all  the  work  should  be  to 
do  again.     Heathendom  was  to  be  made 
unprofitable,  the  city  was  to  be  razed  and 
the  inhabitants  sold  into  slavery.    It  is  the 
logic  of  Torquemada:  Arnaut  of  Narbonne 
was  stubborn  and  Roderick  of  Toledo  had 
the  Pope's  orders  and  had  to  support  him. 
So  it  was  done.    But  the  Archbishop  was 
set  sternly  against  looting:    and  when  a 
great  pestilence  fell  upon  the  land  he  saw 
God's  judgement  in  it:    "By  luxuria  and 
dishonesty  with  captive  Mooresses,"  says 
Andrada  bluntly. 

The  plague  was  terrible:    so  that  one 
man  could  not  give  another  water,  not  a 
vassal  to  his  lord  nor  a  friend  to  his  friend. 
Here,  in  the  chronicle,  the  curtain  falls, 
with,  for  epilogue,  processions  in  Toledo 
cathedral.      Then  every  man  gets  home 
somehow  to  his  own  land. 

1 

This  is  official  history,  written  indeed 
originally  by  one  who  was  there,  a  great 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

45 

prelate,  in  God's  confidence  and  the  King's. 
It  was  augmented  in  time  from  the  histo- 
ries of  family  pride,  of  feats  and  honours. 
The  roll  of  those  who  took  part  fills  five 
pages  in  the  huge  folio  of  Argote  de  Molina : 
and  the  Orders  are  represented  in  a  long 
line  three  generations  deep,  of  Masters' 
sons,  and  INIasters,  and  Masters  who  were 
to    be,    arranged    by    rank    and    family, 
Comendador  and  Alferez,  Clavero  and  treze, 
and  the  Masters,  and  the  Comendadares 
May  ores. 

Other  cities  showed  a  banner  on  the  field, 
besides  the  three  of  Segovia,  Avila,  and 
Medina:   Toledo,  ValladoHd,  Oknedo  and 
Arevalo,    are   counted   over:     and   again 
"into  this  battle  went  the  Corporations 
of  Madrid,  Almazan,  Atienza,  S.  Esteban 
de  Gormaz,  Ayllon,  Cuenca,  Huete  and 
Alarcon. ' '    It  was  a  sort  of  patent  of  ancient 
nobility:    it  was  a  certain  warrant  of  old 
and  fair  renown.    Argote,  who  is  scrupulous 
according  to  his  lights,  depends  with  most 
confidence  on  Rades  y  Andrada,  the  histo- 
rian of  the  Orders,  but  he  cites  also  Zorita 
who  composed  the  .Annals  of  Aragon,  and 

The 

Conmiunes 
participated 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

46 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

A 

friend  of 
Cervantes 

William  of 
Cabestany 

Esteban  Garibay:   and  likewise  a  fine  fel- 
low Per  Anton  Beuther,  the  author  of  a 
Coronica   General   de   toda   Espafia   y   del 
Reyno  de  Valencia.    Amongst  other  matter 
this  last  supplies  new  names  of  those  who 
came  in  the  transpyrenean  host :  the  Count 
of   Foix,   the   lord   of   Montesquieu,   and 
renowned  families,  Lunas  and  Rocabertis, 
lords  of  Castelnou  and  Castelroussillon. 

Also  there  went  that  great  lover,  William 
of   Cabestany.      It   was  perhaps  of  this 
vomer ia  that  he   wrote   one   spring-time, 
when  nightingales  were  crying  by  day  and 
by  night  in  the  deep  of  the  budding  wood : 
and  he  said: 

I  will  go  to  make  my  home 
In  a  strange  country  and  far 

And  his  bitter  envious  tongue 
Shall  give  thanks  I  go  to  war: 

As  a  pilgrim  I  depart 

And  desire  will  slay  me  soon — 
Though  of  Love's  I  have  been  none, 

Yet  I  serve  you  with  my  heart. 

The  record  of  Argote  de  Molina,  like  the 
Archbishop's,    was    composed    for    great 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

47 

folk,  as  a  memorial  of  honours  and  of  feats. 
He    continues:     ''Because    the    King    of 
Navarre   broke   the   enclosure   of   chains 
(about  the  tent  of  Miramomelin)  he  took 
for  arms  the  chains  or  in  a  field  gules  and 
in  the  midst  an  emerald  which  was  among 
the  spoils;    and  certain  of  the  chains  are 
still   about   his   tomb   in   the   church   of 
Roncesvalles."     Then  the  author  turns  to 
discussing    whether    or    not,    before    this 
battle.  King  Alfonso  had  used  for  arms 
gules  a  castle  or.    It  seems  that  such  a  shield 
is  found  on  the  seal  upon  donations  to  S. 
Domingo  de  la  Calzada,  dated  1187  and 
1207.     Certainly  this  day  was  an  epoch 
from  which  men  reckoned. 

1 

Another  record  exists,  however,  of  the 
battle  and  the  years  that  followed  upon  it, 
written  by  a  humble  and  unknown  clerk 
of  Toledo.    What  the  great  overlooked  he 
felt,  and  set  down  faithfully,  and  we  know 
that  his  testimony  is  true. 

and  Spanish 
smiths 
made  a 
reja  for 
fountain- 
house  in  the 
cathedral 
cloister 

The 

Toledan 

Annalist 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

48 

MILITARY     ORDERvS 

Annals 

The  copyist 
loses  count 
among  his 
C's 

The  Toledan  Annals,  so-called— the 
brief  record  of  things  long  past  and  then 
of  memorable  things  in  a  man's  own  life- 
time— were  known  to  Morales  and  to 
Berganza,  and  were  published  by  Florez  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  but  few  have 
cared  to  read  the  story  that  they  relate. 
The  beginning  was  where  all  commences: 

''The  birth  of  Jesus  Christ  the  Son  of 
God  in  Bedlam  Judean,  Era  XXXVIII.." 
Follow,  in  order,  King  Herod's  bidding 
to  kill  the  Innocents,  and  to  behead  the 
Baptist,  and  then  ''Jesus  Christ  received 
his  Passion,  Era  LXXI."  After  three 
entries  more,  concerned  with  the  Martyr- 
dom of  SS.  Stephen,  James,  and  Peter  and 
Paul,  and  after  the  death  of  S.  Martin 
the   Bishop,   appears   Arthur   of   Britain: 

"King  Arthur  strove  with  Alodred  his 
nephew  at  Camelot,  Era  DLXXX."  On 
the  next  page  "Charlemagne  came  into 
Spain";  after  two  items  of  strictly  Span- 
ish importance  was  "The  Battle  of  Ronces- 
valles  when  the  XII  Peers  died,  Era 
DCCCCXXV " :  incontinent  "  Charie- 
magne  died,  Era  DCCCCXLIX." 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

49 

Brief  are  the  entries  of  those  things  that 
must  not  be  forgotten :  one  king's  marriage, 
another's  death;  how  the  convent  of  Ona 
was  founded:  how  in  such  a  year  the  Moors 
took  Osma.  In  1017  died  the  Count  D. 
Sancho,  he  who  gave  the  good  laws;  in 
1019  they  killed  the  Infant  D.  Garcia  in 
Leon. 

A  plain  sort  of  person,  we  make  out,  for 
all  his  writing,  and  his  care  for  great 
moments  and  the  deaths  of  heroes,  who 
farmed  his  own  patch  of  mountain-side 
and  river-bottom.  Of  the  year  1213  he 
writes  that  there  was  freezing  weather 
steadily  from  October  till  Febrviary,  and 
there  was  no  rain  in  March  nor  thence  on 
through  June.  "Never  was  there  so  bad 
a  year,  and  we  gathered  no  wheat,  no  one 
of  us." 

He  had  noted  the  great  snow  "all  over 
the  land"  in  1122,  and  a  rain  of  blood  in 
1149;  the  frost  in  May  that  killed  the 
vines  (1160)  and  the  flood  seven  years  later 
when  the  Tagus  came  up  as  far  as  S.  Isidro 
in  Toledo;  and  how  the  river  was  frozen 
from  bank  to  bank  in  1 1 9 1 .    Glancing  down 

The 

bloody 
wedding 

Frost  and 
flood 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

50 


Death  and 
invasion 


The  wrath 
of  God 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


the  column  of  too-brief  entries,  and  noting 
how  many  the  deaths  of  great  leaders  and 
how  many  and  how  daring  the  Moorish 
raids  from  the  south,  about  the  middle  of 
the  twelfth  century,  one  sees  precisely  how 
the  Orders  were  called  into  being  by  the 
deadly  peril  of  all  reconquered  Spain,  and 
how  they  were  the  challenge  of  the  human 
soul  to  Doom:  *'So  nigh  is  grandeur  to  our 
dust." 

As  the  twelfth  century  begins  the  very 
sun  is  darkened,  "on  the  last  day  of  Feb- 
ruary from  tierce  even  to  none,"  and  the 
great  earthquake  over-sea  shakes  men's 
hearts,  and  the  Tagus  floods  recur  every 
winter  or  so  (four  times  in  a  single  decade) 
and  bring  down  the  bridge.  The  great 
raid  of  the  King  of  Morocco,  two  years 
after  the  rout  of  Alarcos,  that  reached 
past  Maqueda  to  Toledo  and  Madrid  and 
Alcala,  and  extended  by  Orella  and  Ucles 
to  Huete  and  Cuenca  and  Alarcon,  is  sig- 
nalled as  "the  wrath  of  God,"  and  the 
cloud  grows  blacker  as  the  years  go  on. 
After  Salvatierra  was  lost,  the  King  D. 
Alfonso  sent  the  Archbishop  D.  Rodrigo 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

51 

to  France  and  Germany  and  to  the  Apos- 
tolic in  Rome.     The  other  historians  have 
told  this  and  we  have  read  it,  but  there  are 
here,  besides,  details  which  international 
etiquette  did  not  permit  formal  history  to 
record,  scraps  of  hearsay  and  glimpses  into 
the  popular  mind.     So  we  continue  with 
the  poor  clerk  of  Toledo,  who  died  in  1219. 
''The  Apostolic  gave  so  freely  to  all  the 
world  that  all  were  loosed  from  their  sins, 
and  this  pardon  was  because  the  King  of 
Morocco  said  that  he  would  do  battle  with 
whosoever  adored  the  Cross  in  all  the  world. 
So  the  men  from  across  the  ports  of  the 
Pyrenees  assembled  and  came  to  Toledo 
in  Whitsun  week  and  they  turned  Toledo 
upside  down,  and  killed  many  of  the  Jews,' 
and   the   knights   of    Toledo   armed  and 
defended    the    Jews."      These    Crusaders 
against   Albigensians   who   brought   their 
habits  with  them,  were  not  pleasant  guests; 
no  wonder  the  reflexion  of  the  anxious  wait- 
ing lies  even  on  the  page  of  the  Coronica 
General.      "And    after    a   se'nnight    King 
Alfonso  and  the  King  of  Aragon  entered 
Toledo  and  a  great  folk  out  of  all  Spain 

It  may 
have  been 
Avignon 

French 
guests  try 
to  have  a 
pogrom  on 
the  way 
down 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

52 


and  to  sack 
Toledo  on 
the  way- 
back 


M  ILITARY     ORDERS 


helped  them,  and  out  of  everywhere  over- 
mountains,  and  they  cut  all  the  King's 
park,  and  all  that  of  Alcardel,  and  they 
did  much  evil  in  Toledo,  and  they  lay 
there  long.  Afterwards  the  Kings  moved 
with  the  hosts  and  they  took  Malagon  by 
the  sword,  and  they  had  a  long  fight  at 
Calatrava,  until  at  last  it  yielded.   .    .    ." 

So  the  story  goes  on  as  we  know  it 
already,  with  little  novel  except  that  the 
four  days  before  the  great  battle  were  all 
occupied  with  repelling  attacks,  and  that 
the  opening  hours  of  the  engagement  were 
as  desperate  as,  indeed,  the  dialogue  already 
quoted  implies.  Both  wings  had  closed  in 
vain  against  the  entrenched  Paymins,  and 
been  broken:  lastly  the  King  of  Castile 
moved  with  his  rear-guard  and  it  pleased 
God  to  rout  the  Moors.    Anon: 

"The  Christian  Kings  went  on  to  take 
tJbeda,    and    they    took   many    cativos    y 

cativas,   more   than   LX   thousand 

And  in  the  doing  of  all  this  those  from 
across  the  mountains  had  no  share,  for 
they  went  back  from  Calatrava  and  tried 
to  take  Toledo  by  treachery.     But  the 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

53 

men  of  Toledo  shut  the  gates  and  reviled 
them,  and  called  them  disloyal,  and  trait- 
ors, and  excommunicate.    And  the  Kings, 
having  staked  and  won  for  Christendom, 
went  home." 

But  there  is  no  discharge  in  this  war. 
In  September  of  that  year  three  Moorish 

Laus  Deo 

Kings  attacked  all  that  had  just  been  won. 
and  the  Castilian  forces  were  mustered  and 
put  them  to  rout  and  had  rich  loot.     By 
the  next  February  the  King  was  out  again. 
In  the  following  year,  1213,  two  thousand 
Christians  were  lost,  in  the  loss  of  a  single 
stronghold.    Here  falls  the  cold  winter  and 
bad  harvest  already  cited.     So  the  King 
of  Castile  and  the  King  of  Leon  made 
peace  and  made  a  pact  to  march  against 
the  Moors  each  on  his  own  frontier,  and 
the  King  of  Leon  borrowed  a  commander, 
took    Alcantara,    tried    for    Caceres    but 
failed,  and  went  home  again.     The  King 
of  Castile,  who  was  besieging  Baeza,  asked 
him  to  execute  a  diversion  in  the  south,  but 
no.    In  the  autumn,  however,  Alfonso  had 
taken  a  town,  and  had  killed  many  Moors 
and  many  Mooresses,  and  had  driven  off 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

54 


M  ILITARY     ORDERS 


War 


famine 


and  horror 


much  cattle:  but  in  January  he  lay  three 
weeks  before  Baeza  and  could  not  take  it. 
"And  horses  died  there,  and  mules,  and 
she-mules  and  asses,  and  the  folk  ate  them, 
and  thereafter  the  folk  died  of  hunger.  At 
that  time  a  measure  of  grain  cost  sixty  sols. 
And  the  host  came  up  to  Toledo  and  the 
famine  was  in  the  kingdom  till  summer, 
and  most  of  the  folk  died,  and  they  ate 
the  beasts  and  the  dogs  and  the  cats  and 
what  children  they  could  steal.  This  was 
in  Toledo,  and  wheat  went  up  to  .  .  .  ." 
Curiously  enough  he  never  set  down  the 
figure,  leaving  it,  presumably,  to  be  veri- 
fied— a  trustworthy  chronicler.  I  know 
few  pages  which  can  so  convey  the  sense  of 
living  through  those  wars.  The  same  tale 
is  told  now  by  travellers  in  southeastern 
Europe,  or  in  the  fringes  of  Austria,  or  by 
the  coasts  of  Syria  and  the  uplands  of 
Armenia. 


In  the  battle  of  Las  Navas  the  Master 
of  Calatrava  was  wounded  in  the  arm, 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

55 

so  that  he  never  fought  again :   and  on  the 
battle-field  he  assembled  his  knights  and 
resigned  his  office  and  saw  a  new  Master 
elected  regularly:    then  he  went  back  to 
Calatrava  and  lived  there  holily  for  nine 
years  more.     The  Convent  was  despoiled 
and    exhausted    with    expenses,    but    the 
Archbishop    D.    Roderick   with    his    men 
stayed  there  for  six  months  in  case  of 
attack  and  he  paid  all  his  men's  expenses 
and  those  of  the  secular  knights  with  him, 
and  for  several  years  there  are  records  of 
rich  gifts  made  by  the  King  and  by  knights 
who  were  harboured  there  on  the  return 
from    forays.      God    did    not    forget    the 
freyles  of  Calatrava:   one  Lent  about  this 
time  there  was  no  fish  to  be  had,  and  they 
were  about  to  sit  down  to  meat,  and  risk 
their  souls  to  keep  up  their  strength  when 
pack-mules    arrived:     the    vassals    of    D. 
Alfonso  and  knights  of  Toledo  having  sent 
fish    and    vegetables    and    other    Lenten 
victuals. 

The  ensuing_years  are  spent  in  recon- 
struction and  adjustment.    When,  in  1213, 
the  Master  D.  Rodrigo  Garces  ceded  to  the 

The 

Convent 
of 

Calatrava 
acquires — 

1, 

the  Order 

of  Avis 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

56 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

•'Whose 
word  of 
might. . . 

. .  .  winged 

thee  with 
wings  of 
flame?" 

Master  of  the  Order  of  Avis  certain  prop- 
erties  that    the   Convent  held  in  Evora, 
Avis  in  return  acknowledged  subjection  to 
Calatrava.      The    Portuguese    order    had 
been  founded  as  early  as  1147,  called  then 
after  Evora,  the  castle  of  Avis  being  given 
to  it  only  in  1181.    By  this  time  Portugal 
was  so  far  dissevered  from  Spain  that  an 
order    needed    independence:     Calatrava 
likewise  had  staked  and  won  in  the  battle, 
and  being  now  rich  and  strong,  was  deter- 
mined for  power.     Throughout  the  thir- 
teenth century  all  that  they  asserted  they 
secured:    in   1238  the  Master  D.  Martin 
Ruiz   was   received   as   visitor   at   Evora, 
conjointly   with   the   Cistercian   abbot  of 
Sotos  Albos :  in  that  year  it  was  admitted 
that  his  representative  must  be  present  at 
an  election.     The  arms  of  Avis  were  the 
cross  of  Calatrava  with  a  difference:  two 
little  birds  below,   where   Calatrava  had 
borne  fetters  till  growing  pride  left  them 
oft'.     The  Portuguese  remained  thus  sub- 
ject to  Calatrava  until  the  Master  D.  John, 
the  bastard  of  a  King  of  Portugal,  con- 
quered in  the  battle  of  Aljubarrota.    Nor 

'HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

57 

was  Avis  yet  left  unmolested.    The  whole 
matter,   claims  and  recriminations   alike, 
was   ventilated   in   the   Council   of   B^e, 
1431-43.    That  princely  warrior  whom  the 
chroniclers  call  Master  Davis,  and  that 
stricken  field  that  Froissart  calls  Jubaroth,* 
belong  in  the  annals  of  the  west. 

Within  a  few  years  the  Master  Martin 
Fernandez  gave  to  D.  Nufio  Fernandez, 
the  Master  of  S.  Julian  of  Pereyro,  the 
city   of   Alcantara   which    D.   Alfonso   of 
Leon  had  gained  a  few  years  before  and 
given  to  Calatrava  whence  to  fight  against 
the  Moors  of  Estremadura.    The  condition 
was  that  the  Master  of  Pereyro  with  his 
freyles,   knights   and   clerks,   present   and 
future,  should  be  visited,  corrected  and 
reformed  by  the  Master  of  Calatrava  and 
his  successors  forever.    Rades  y  Andrada 
copies   the   document:    the  order,   which 
was  constituted  more  like  Santiago,  is  not 
obliged  to  receive  a  monk  for  Prior  unless 
it  likes,  but  shall  elect  a  Prior  from  Pereyro 
or  Calatrava  or  any  daughter  house  of 
Calatrava:    the  Master  of  Pereyro  is  to 
be  called  for  the  election  of  future  Masters 

*V.  p.  126 

Alcantara 
as  an         L- 
offshoot 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

/ 


58 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

Of  him 
the  Com- 
poslellana 
tells 

3. 

the  Order 

of  Monte 

Gaudio 

V.p.  155 

of  Calatrava,  nor  can  any  goods  of  the  order 
be  alienated  without  consent:  given  in 
Ciudad  Rodrigo  1218. 

The  ninth  Master,  D.  Frey  Gonzalo 
Yanez,  was  a  Gallegan,  the  son  of  Joan 
Arias  de  Noboa,  and  he  had  married  a 
daughter  of  Count  Fernan  Perez  de  Traba 
— which  means  that  he  could  call  up  all 
the  west.  The  convent  of  S.  Felices  being 
founded  for  nuns,  near  Amaya,  the  Master 
had  the  nomination  of  the  abbess,  and 
neither  party  could  receive  a  nun  without 
the  other's  consent.  The  convent  in  a 
later  age  claimed  the  sepulchres  of  the 
Infant  D.  Philip  and  Dona  Leonor  de 
Castro,  and  their  son:  but  this  is  impossi- 
ble; their  tombs  stand  yet  in  the  Tem- 
plar's church  of  Villasirga  and  their  bodies 
yet  rest  within  the  carven  tombs. 

In  1221  King  Ferdinand  III  gave  to  the 
Master  the  Castle  of  Monfrac  of  the  Order 
and  Knights  of  Monfrac  called  also  Mon- 
te Gaudio,  which  had  fallen  into  much 
diminution:  a  bull  of  Alexander  III,  given 
in  1180,  names  many  castles  thereto  apper- 
taining both   in  the   Holy   Land  and  in 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


Spain  and  elsewhere.  They  held  a  castle 
of  S.  Angelo  de  Ursaria  in  Apulia,  which, 
in  1228,  Gregory  IX  gave  to  the  diocese  of 
Troja.  In  short,  what  with  property  and 
what  with  power,  and  with  plenty  of  com- 
mon sense  in  swapping  horses,  Calatrava 
did  well  by  herself. 

A  close  alliance  or  hermandad  was  knit 
up  between  Santiago  and  Calatrava,  .with 
two  principal  intentions :  the  Orders  should 
each  observe  what  truce  with  the  Moors 
the  other  might  make;  and  in  stress  of 
need  the  knights  of  either  would  obey  a 
leader  of  the  other.  The  practical  wisdom 
of  this  is  apparent.  They  fought  neck  to 
neck. 

At  the  taking  of  Cordova  the  Masters  of 
Calatrava  and  Santiago  were  early  on  the 
scene.  Complaint  being  made  to  S.  Ferdi- 
nand of  the  Comendador  of  Zurita,  Frey 
Fernan  Perez,  that  he  evilly  entreated 
both  townsfolk  and  peasants,  the  King 
wrote  him  a  sharp  letter,  "in  very  bad 
Latin"  but  quite  unmistakable:  he  would 
be  ejected  from  his  bailiwick  if  he  had  not 
better  treatment  for  the   mezquinos,  the 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


59 


Truces 

mutually 

binding 


^^ 


Commands 

mutually 

recognized 


60 


A  great 
coiporation 


The  Order 
of  Montesa 
V.  p.  164 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


meanest  folk.  At  the  taking  of  Seville 
they  did  well.  When  Sancho  IV  captured 
Tarifa  and  was  about  to  pull  it  down,  the 
Master  of  Calatrava  undertook  to  garrison 
it,  as  Captain  General,  for  a  fixed  sum: 
afterwards  Fernan  Perez  de  Guzman  took 
it  over,  on  like  terms.  The  great  corpora- 
tion, now  that  the  pressure  of  danger  was 
lifted,  began  to  do  business  like  other  cor- 
porations. This  appears  further  from  what 
follows. 

In  the  time  of  Garci  Lopez  de  Padilla  the 
Order  of  Montesa  was  affiliated.  When  the 
Order  of  the  Temple  was  destroyed — and 
to  the  deathless  glory  of  Spain,  her  pre- 
lates refused  to  participate  in  that  outrage 
— then  there  was  scrambling  for  the  pieces. 
Neither  Kings  nor  lords  secular,  in  Spain, 
secured  as  much  as  elsewhere.  King 
Jaime  of  Aragon  asked  John  XXII  to  give 
the  goods  of  the  Templars  in  the  Kingdom 
of  Valencia  to  institute  a  Military  Order. 
The  Convent  of  S.  George  was  founded  in 
the  city  of  Montesa  in  1318  and  was  visited 
jointly  by  the  Master  of  Calatrava  and  the 
Abbot  of  SS.  Creus.     In  this  year  a  pact 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


was  made  with  Santiago  and  Alcantara  for 
mutual  defence  if  the  King  or  his  guardians 
threatened  any  of  their  privileges. 


I 


The  House  of  Padilla  were  gentlefolk 
always,  of  ancient  Castilian  lineage.  They 
gave  three  Masters  to  Calatrava  and  one 
elect — the  Clavero  whose  tragic  end  Juan 
de  Mena  has  deplored.  They  did  glori- 
ously in  battles,  they  married  with  great 
families,  they  held  high  office.  When  King 
Peter  fixed  his  love  upon  the  gentle  Maria 
de  Padilla,  he  was  not  derogating,  nor  was 
she  wronged.  He  was  not  then  married, 
nor  was  she,  and  their  children  would  have 
reigned,  had  it  not  been  for  the  children 
of  Leonor  de  Guzman. 

When  the  Master  of  the  time  of  Alfonso 
XI  was  very  old  the  Orders  were,  in  an  ugly 
battle,  sorely  outnumbered,  and  finally 
he  retreated.  This  so  enraged  some  of  the 
knights  that,  without  ceasing  to  retreat, 
they  deposed  him  and  elected  one  of  them- 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


61 


The  House 
of  Padilla 


62 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

.  .  .  Los 
ejemplos  de 
las  que  van 
y  tornen.  .  . 

selves.    A  series  of  schisms  and  intrusions 
followed,  very  like  what  was  happening  in 
the  Papacy.     D.  Juan  Nunez  de  Prado  was 
Captain  General  of   King  Peter's  in  the 
whole  diocese  of  Jaen,  harrying  the  Moors 
of  Granada,  but  he  rebuked  the  King  for 
leaving  Blanche  of  Bourbon  and  living  with 
Dona  Maria,  and  quarrelled  with  him,  and 
in  consequence  withdrew  to  Calatrava,  and 
then  fled  to  Aragon.     Dona  Maria  bore 
herself  well  in  her  hard  place,  and  cherished 
no  personal  griefs,  but  he  remembered  the 
outrages  he  had  done  on  her  kinsman,  the 
Master,  and  he  put  no  trust  in  King  Peter 
of  Aragon.    With  a  safe-conduct  he  came 
back  and  was  reconciled,  but  not  long  after 
in  Almagro  they  took  him  at  table.    The 
town   did   not   rise   nor   did   the   knights 
protest.      The  King  called  for  a  chapter 
in  Almagro;  there  he  was  tried  and  deposed 
and  D.  Diego  Garcia  de  Padilla  elected  in 
his  stead;   he  was  removed  to  a  castle  of 
the  Order  and  after  a  few  days  beheaded. 
^Almagro  was  the  court  of  the  blasters  of 
Calatrava,  and  they  had  their  magisterial 
palaces  there:   but  where  wealth  and  ease 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

63 

had  flourished  with  independence  to  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  small  rem- 
nant  is   left   of  the   gracious   fourteenth - 
century  Gothic  of  the  days  of  these  Padillas. 
Doubtless  it  bore  the  same  strange  and 
lovely  exotic  flower  as  the  convent  palace 
at  Tordesillas  and  the  Alcazar  at  Seville, 
from  the  same  cross-fertilization  of  Arab 
and  Iberian  art.     The  town,  founded  after 
Las  Navas,  lies  in  the  wide  plain,  below 
the  hills  where  Calatrava  guards  the  pass, 
without  a  brook,  without  a  snowy  crest 
to    enliven    the    unchanging    aspect    of 
things.    Plenty  of  plateresque  house-fronts 
register  the  truth,  that  when  the  Order  was 
ruined  the  members  of  it  were  not.    Before 
that  time  another  Garci  Lopez  de  Padilla 
had  been  Master,  and,  dying  in  1487,  been 
buried  in  the  choir  of  the  great  Cistercian 
church  at  Calatrava;    after  that  time  D. 
Gutierre  de  Padilla  was  to  be  Comendador 
Mayor  and  endow  a  hospital  so  richly  that 
a  convent  was  founded  with  the  surplus, 
about  1519,  and  to  set  a  device  above  it  of 
a  heart  in  a  vulture's  claws,  with  the  legend. 
Gay  colours,  and  the  heart  as  you  see.     It 

Almagro 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

64 


A  goodly 
bearing  and 
a  talon  in 
the  heart 


Character 
of  the 
Master 
D.  Garcia 
de  Padilla 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


might  have  been  Maria  de  Padilla's  device, 
or  her  lover's  the  ill-starred,  passionate 
king. 

From  this  point  history  wants  wary 
walking,  for  those  who  wrote  it,  from  Pero 
Lopez  de  Ayala  down  to  Rades  y  Andrada 
and  Caro  de  Torres,  could  never  forget 
that  the  reigning  house  descended  from  the 
murderer  of  D.  Peter,  and  lest  that  ghost 
should  rise,  fling  stones  upon  the  huge  cairn 
over  him.  The  King  and  all  his  men  must 
still  be  blackened  that  the  Bastard's  long 
rebellion  and  culminant  treachery  may  still 
appear  God's  judgement. 

The  former  Master  D.  Frey  Garcia 
Lopez  de  Padilla — twice  deposed  and  twice 
restored  and  resigning  quietly  in  the  end, 
keeping  only  Aragon  and  Zorita — was  the 
uncle  of  the  Masters  of  Calatrava  and  San- 
tiago and  Dofia  Maria  their  sister.  D. 
Diego  Garcia  de  Padilla,  though  elected 
by  the  king's  influence,  retained  his  freedom 
of  action:  at  the  outset  he  had  joined  with 
the  Master  D.  Fadrique  and  Count  Henry 
of  Trastamara  and  the  Count  of  Albu- 
querque against  the  Queen  Mother,  but 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

65 

he   was   wounded   before   Toro;    on   the 
King's  entry,  in  the  terrible  hour  of  his 
wrath,  he  protected  the  Queen,  and  the 
King  struck  him  down  and  many  of  his 
party  were  killed  there.    He  gave  the  habit 
in   Andalusia   with   some   indifference   to 
family.    In  the  wars  of  Granada,  returning 
carelessly  from   a  raid,   the  Master  was 
taken  prisoner  by  a  Moorish  knight,  who 
presented  him  to  el  Rey  Bermejo  with  a 
great  shouting  and  festivity.     The  Red 
King  received  him  royally  and  very  hon- 
ourably, and  conferred  with  him  on  politi- 
cal issues,  proposing  finally  that  he  should 
bring   about   an   understanding   with   the 
King  D.  Peter,  and  to  that  end  set  him 
free  without  ransom,  after  a  few  days,  and 
with  him  other  knights  of  the  Order. 

This  is  how  the  Red  King  came  to  Seville : 
you  know  the  tragical  history,  how  King 
Peter   judged   and   sentenced   him   for   a 
black  heart,  but  because  a  King  cannot  die 
by  a  common  hand  did  the  sentence  him- 
self.    It  is  one  of  the  strangest  stories, 
most  hardly  comprehensible,   of  all  that 
haunt  the  chambers  of  the  Alcazar:    and 

Always 
on  the 
wrong  side 

Death  of 
the  Red 
King 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

66 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

".  .  .   Hear 
the  little 
cry 

the   Master's   honour   ailed,   for   he   had 
brought  about  the  visit,  and  he  withdrew 
to  his  Maestrazgo. 

He  was  a  troubled  spirit,  as  it  would 
seem — very   tender   of   his   honour,    very 
keen  that  his  knightliness  should  protect 
the  right,  and  bewildered  often,  enlisted 
on  the  losing  side,   prompt  for  the  lost 
cause.     So  he  went   on,   befriending  the 
King's  brethren  when  they  were  threatened 
and  his  mother  when  she  was  defeated,  and 
then  the  Red  King;    then  Count  Henry 
in  Toledo.    King  Peter  felt  the  wound  and 
wrote  with  a  personal  passion,  that  yet 
glows  in  the  ash,   his  reproach   that  his 
daughters'  and  heiress's  uncle  should  give 
obedience  to  a  tyrant,  that  he  should  do 
this  whom  he  had  trusted  before  all  the 
noblee    of    his    kingdom.      The    Master 
doubted  what  to  do  and  stayed  out  of  the 
battle  of  Najera   (where   Pero  Lopez  de 
Ayala  was  taken  fighting  for  D.  Enrique) : 
it  was  singularly  unfortunate.    He  went  to 
the  King  in  the  end,  but  it  was  too  late, 
and  in  Andalusia  he  was  taken  and  put  in 
prison,  where  he  died.     Too  careful  of  his 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

67 

honour,  he  yet  suUied  it;  loyal,  he  wounded 
and  was  wounded  in  the  affections;    he 
moves  in  a  mist,  and  fights  like  one  in  a 
dream. 

1 

Martin  Lopez  of  Cordova  was  Master  of 
Alcantara;    quite  regularly  the  King  had 
him  made  Master  of  Calatrava.     He  had 
his  own  adventures  when,  as  Viceroy  of 
Cordova,  he  failed  in  his  mission  and  in  a 
Granada  campaign  was  taken  prisoner  and 
released  again.    When  the  King  was  dead 
he  stood  by  his  children  and  tried  to  save 
his  treasure:  King  Henry  came  down  with 
D.  Pedro  Mufioz  Godov  of  Montiel  who 
called  himself  Master,  and  before  Carmona 
the  two  Masters  met.     The  elder  line  was 
doomed:    Martin   Lopez  was  taken  and 
beheaded.     Godoy_was  ultimately  trans- 
lated to  the  Order  of  Santiago,  and  his 
successor,  who  was  formerly  of  the  habit 
of  S.  John,  died  fighting  gallantly  at  Alju- 
barrota;  ''the  great  ma*ster  of  Calatrava," 

.  ,  of  our 
sad  hearts 
that  may 
not  live  or 
die." 

Peralvdrez 
de  Pereyra. 

xxn 

Master 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

68 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

Portrait  of 
a  Master 

as  Froissart  calls  him,   "and  his  brother 
who  was  that  day  made  knight." 

The  twenty-third  Master  was  a  Guzman. 
''D.   Gonzalo   Nunez  de  Guzman  was  a 
great  lord  in  Castile";    so  Fernan  Perez 
sets  about  the  portrait  in  his  Generations 
and   Semblances;    and    develops   it   thus: 
"He    was    ugly    of    countenance,    heavy, 
short-necked   and   high-shouldered.      But 
he  was  a  mighty  man ;  he  did  right  well  in 
arms;    he  was  short  in  speech  but  very 
pleasant    and    companionable    with    his 
friends.      For  he  never  knew  how  to  be 
alone,  but  was  always  in  company  of  his 
own.      He  was  free-handed,  not  ordinar- 
ily, but  as  much  as  ever  you   liked,  so 
that  you  might  call  him  prodigal.     And  to 
my    mind    this    extreme    of    prodigality, 
though  it  be  a  vice,  is  greater  and  less 
bad  than  that  of  avarice,  for  the  great 
gifts  of  the  prodigal  are  greatly  prized  and 
they    show    a    great    heart" — in    short, 
Aristotle's  virtue  of  Magnanimity.     "This 
man    was    very    dissolute    in    respect    of 
women;    and   so   with   such   virtues   and 
vices  he  came  to  great  estate  and   great 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN    SPAIN 


fame  and  renown,  and  had  great  men  for 
his  familiars,  and  some  that  did  not  live 
with  him  but  had  his  money  every  year." 

It  is  said  by  Rades  y  Andrada  that  in 
1404,  when  the  previous  Master  died,  the 
King  D.  Enrique  III  ordered  Calatrava  not 
to  elect  until  he  could  arrive,  and  he 
treated  with  the  most  ancient  and  princi- 
pal of  the  Order  to  elect  his  cousin,  D. 
Enrique  de  Villena,  although  he  was  a 
married  man. 

King  Henry  was  a  young  man — he  was 
to  die  at  seven  and  twenty — and  Dona 
Maria  de  Albornoz,  the  wife,  was  a  fair 
lady  for  whom  he  had  a  great  desire.  The 
plan  was  that  a  Papal  divorce  should  be 
secured  on  the  ground  of  impotence,  with  a 
confirmation  of  the  Mastership:  mean- 
while the  lady  withdrew  into  the  convent 
of  Poor  Clares  at  Guadalajara,  living  not, 
however,  as  a  Religious,  but  as  a  guest. 
The  King,  one  is  disposed  to  infer,  had 
probably  his  own  reasons  for  keeping  her 
withdrawn  from  the  world  till  she  could 
be  delivered  over  to  him. 

Sneers  have  been  wasted  on  the  Marquis 


AND  MONOGRAPHS 


69 


A  king's 
love 


70 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

A  case  of 
conscience 

Life  of 

D,  Enrique 

de  Villena 

for  his  acquiescence,  but  it  is  hard  to  see 
what  wiser  he  could  have  done.    There  was 
no  love  in  the  case;    his  grandfather,  the 
Constable  of  Castile,  had  married  him  at  a 
tender  age.     His  own  honour  was  worth 
considering  and  if  his  wife  were  to  be  the 
King's  property,  she  had  better  not  be  his 
wife:  once  quit  of  her,  his  name  remained 
stainless.      Nor    was    he    ill-disposed    to 
women:   the  cynicism  of  the  arrangement 
may  have  amused  his  philosophic  mind. 
At  any  rate,  after  the  divorce  was  obtained, 
Dona  Beatriz  was  not  without  attraction; 
he  is  said  to  have  been  her  lover,  and  what 
is  more,  he  is  said  to  have  been  kind  to  her, 
and,  when  the  King  was  dead,  to  have 
shared  his  poverty  with  her  need. 

He  was  Master  of  everything  except  suc- 
cess:   and  perhaps  for  that  he  cared  less 
than  his  critics.    He  had  always  the  price 
of  a  book,  and  materials  of  the  necroman- 
cer's art.     Worldly  goods  dropped  away 
from  him:  the  reversion  of  Villena  he  was 
forced  to  exchange  against  the  countship 
of  Cangas  and  Tineo,  and  that,  in  turn, 
was  commuted  to  the  crown  when  he  was 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

71 

elected  Master,  for  the  goods  of  a  Master 
reverted  at  his  death  to  the  Order,  and 
Cangas  and  Tineo  were  in  the  royal  patri- 
mony and  could  not  be  alienated.    He  was 
elected  duly  at  Toledo.  Thereafter,  though 
recalcitrant  knights  had  elected  at  Cala- 
trava  D.  Luys  de  Guzman,  who  fled  into 
Aragon  when  the   King  set  out  for  the 
mother  house,   at  Calatrava   D.   Enrique 
was  re-elected  and  installed  formally.   The 
King  gave  Belvis  to  the  Convent  for  ves- 
tuary  of  the  clerks.    When  the  King  died, 
those  of  Calatrava  fortL^ed  and  provisioned 
the  place,  then,  feeling  safer,  they  voted 
that  they  were  all  excommunicate  to  have 
elected  Villena.     The  schism  dragged  on 
until,  in  1414,  a  Chapter-General  of  the 
Cistercian  Order  in  Burgundy  pronounced 
against  D.  Enrique,  and  declared  his  elec- 
tion and  the  Papal  confirmation  equally 
invalid.      Yet   twelve    knights    stood    by 
him  for  two  years  more. 

He  did  not  get  on  well  with  the  Jreyles 
comendadores,  says  Feman  Perez  de  Guz- 
man in  the  Chronicle  of  D.  John  II,  '*por 
muchos  desaguisados y  sinrazones. ' '  Doubt- 

Up  then 
crew  the 
red, red 
cock 

and 

up  and  crew 
the  grey 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

72 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

Character 

of 

D.  Enrique 

de  Villena 

Rector 
of  Sala- 
manca in 
youth 

less  with  the  generaUty  this  was  true.     He 
was    singularly    ill-fitted    for    either    the 
soldier's  life  or  the  ecclesiastic's.     A  pro- 
found   scholar,    who    added    Arabic    and 
Hebrew  to  the  classical  and  the  current 
languages,    deeply    read    in    history,    in 
philosophy,  in  astrology  and  necromancy, 
he  was  a  poet,  and  called  into  being  the 
courtly  pageant   at   Saragossa,   and   held 
at  Barcelona  a  consistory  of  the  Gal  Saber, 
when  he  went  away  from  Calatrava.   Very 
learned  in  the  law,  he  was,  besides,  the 
complete    gentleman,    and    composed    a 
treatise  on  that  ideal.    Calatrava  probably 
struck  him  as  both  rough  and  illiterate, 
and  at  the  same  time  too  worldly  and  politi- 
cal for  peace.     He  probably  struck  Cala- 
trava as  absurd:   small,  and  in  later  years 
stout,   white-skinned;    a   gourmet   and  a 
connoisseur  of  women,  metaphysical,  im- 
practical, and  given  to  the  Black  Art. 

On   his   little   estate   of   Hiniesta   near 
Cuenca  he  was  to  live  more  happily,  and  in 
his  old  house  at  Toledo  where  he  could 
command  the  books  and  the  learning  of 
the    cathedral    and    hold    converse    with 

HISPAN  10     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


scholars  many  of  whom  were  circumcised. 
His  own  library  was  famous,  and  the  burn- 
ing thereof  is  truth  of  history,  whether  or 
not  we  may  trust  the  racy  letter  of  the 
Bachelor  of  Ciudad  Real;  it  is  a  more 
wanton  and  a  graver  loss  than  that  of  Don 
Quixote  (which  may  indeed  have  taken  a 
hint  therefrom)  and  in  the  field  of  Hebrew 
and  Arabic  probably  irreparable.  He  died 
in  1434.  He  was  a  perfect  humanist,  and 
in  him  the  growing  ideals  of  the  Renais- 
sance clashed  with  those  of  the  age  just 
passing;  he  was  modern,  secular,  and 
personal. 

Nor  may  we  forget  that  Macias  o  Namo- 
rado  v/as  of  his  household,  that  trobador 
that  died  because  he  loved  so  well ;  though 
how  or  on  what  occasion  none  are  agreed, 
yet  all  admit  that  surely  he  died  for  love. 
So  the  Renaissance  and  the  mediaeval 
types  are  still  seen  in  juxtaposition:  the 
ripe  old  humanist  with  the  fatal  lover,  the 
author  of  an  early  and  curious  treatise  on 
poetics  and  diction  in  general,  with  the 
subject  of  a  recent  and  delightful  grammar 
of  the  Gallegan  speech.     D.  Enrique  had 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


73 


Macias  o 
Namorado 


4 


74 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

Great 
spirits 
touched  to 
fine  issues 

The  court 
of  John  II 

the  same  affinity  as  the  young  king,  his 
cousin,  D.  Juan  II,  for  men  of  letters  and  of 
parts,  and  his  correspondents  and  familiars 
formed  a  little  court  comparable  to  that 
which    D.    Alvaro   de  .  Luna   graced,   and 
Micer  Francisco  Imperial,  and  the  Marquis 
of  Santillana.        i.-^,  . 

Meanwhile   D.   Luys  served   the   King 
well   always,    not   only   when   under   the 
Infant  D.  Ferdinand  he  raided  the  Vega  of 
Granada,  but  also  in  the  war  with  Aragon. 
Again  in  1431  he  raided  the  south,  though 
Granada  paid  tribute  to  Castile:    a  letter 
of  the  Moorish  King's  was  long  preserved 
at  Calatrava  as  a  memorial  of  his  honour, 
laid  up  in  the  precious  casket  in  which 
belike  it  came.     He  was  a  good  friend  of 
the  Master  of  Santiago,  D.  Alvaro  de  Luna, 
and  arranged  with  him  the  exchange  of 
certain  places  between  the  two  orders. 

1 

In  his  long  rule  of  nearly  forty  years 
becomes   apparent   the   change   that   the 
Order  was  undergoing.    This  is  the  fifteenth 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN    SPAIN 


century,  and  the  reign  of  John  II,  whose 
court  was  a  hothouse  of  Renaissance 
literature,  exotic,  exquisite,  full  of  colour, 
fragrance,  melody.  All  that  Italy  and 
France  could  give,  was  there  transplanted, 
and  flourished  with  a  new  strange  bloom. 

The  knights  of  the  Order  were  caught 
betwixt  heaven  and  earth,  between  castle, 
court  and  convent.  They  were  not  cru- 
saders, and  they  wore  the  cross  on  their 
shoulders  as  a  token  not  of  soldierly 
brotherhood  but  of  lordly  lineage.  They 
were  not  Religious,  for  they  were  the  sons 
of  great  houses,  intriguing  for  command- 
eries,  indifferent  to  Latin  and  theology 
and  avid  of  the  Italian  literature  and  the 
new  poetry.  In  the  incessant  struggle 
between  the  great  houses  for  the  control 
of  the  King  and  that  of  the  realm  thereby, 
they  knew  how  to  use  their  power  to 
advantage,  and  with  exercise  it  grew. 

Their  vows  meant  no  more  to  them  than 
the  thirty-nine  articles  to  an  English 
clergyman,  and  the  vows  themselves  by 
now  imposed  little  more  than  loyalty  to 
Our  Lady  and  the  King — the  latter  part 


75 


The 

status  of 
the  Order 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


Vows  both 
vague  and 
negligible 


76 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

Bachelors 
and  spin- 
sters did 
bring  up 
families 

being  negligible.     In  the  previous  century 
the  cowl  had  been  given  up  and  only  the 
cloak  and  cross  distinguished  them  from 
other  men:    D.  Luys  put  through  a  Bull 
allowing  them  to  marry,  and  was  the  only 
one  at  the  time  to  take  advantage  of  it. 
We  can  hardly  suppose  that  the  rest  lived 
celibate.    Of  one  Master  early  in  the  thir- 
teenth century  the  historian  observes  that 
"he  had  three  sons  and  a  daughter:    it  is 
not  known  whether  he  was  married  before 
he  took  the  habit,  or  whether  they  were 
illegitimate."    It  hardly  mattered,  for  the 
merciful  Spanish  law  distinguished  rightly 
between   the   fruits  of   adultery   and   the 
children  born  to  the  unmarried.     Nor  was 
the    limpieza,    now    strictly    required    for 
admission  to  the  Order,  tainted  by  bastardy, 
if  the  quarterings  crossed  by  the  bar  sinister 
were  but  sufficient  and  regular.    The  new 
change  which  was  to  come  within  forty 
years  thereafter  will  hardly  have  seemed 
very  great  to  the  knights:   there  had  been 
schisms   and   intrusions  before,   and   now 
that  state  was  to  be,  so  to  speak,  perma- 
nent— there  was  never  to  be  a  Master  any 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


more.  But  for  the  rest,  fat  commanderies 
should  still  be  distributed,  and  precedence 
and  prestige  should  still  count  at  court, 
and  great  wealth  and  the  command  of 
many  men  should  still  be  within  reach. 
To  us  the  policy,  finally  triumphant,  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabel,  seems  the  ending 
of  a  world,  but  in  those  days  it  must  have 
happened  as  imperceptibly  as  the  turning 
of  a  tide. 


I 


Forty  years  is  a  long  time,  and  the 
younger  generation  grows  impatient  when 
old  men  will  not  die.  When  D.  Frey  Luys 
de  Guzman  was  old  and  sick,  and  as  his 
lieutenant  D.  Ferdinand  de  Padilla,  the 
Clavero,  was  administering  the  Order,  a 
rumour  came  to  Toledo  that  the  Master 
was  dead.  The  Comendador  Mayor  D. 
Juan  Ramirez  de  Guzman  then  hoped  to 
be  elected  Master  in  his  stead.  The  King 
being  of  no  value  politically  and  the  parties 
playing  off  against  each  other,   D.   Juan 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


77 


Little 
change 
when  the 
Catholic 
Kings  incor- 
porated the 
Mastership 


His  nick- 
name was 
came  de 
cabra 


78 


The  Keeper 
a  loyal 
knight 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


Ramirez  suggested  to  the  Infant  D. 
Enrique  of  Aragon  to  give  him  counte- 
nance and  men  enough  to  seize  the  castles 
and  towns  of  the  Order;  he  raised  two 
hundred  heavy-armed  horse  and  a  hundred 
jinetes  and  set  out  for  Calatrava.  The 
Clavero  met  him  with  a  hundred  and  eighty 
of  the  former  and  two  hundred  of  the  latter, 
and  the  fighting  was  bloody  in  the  Campo 
de  Barajas:  Padilla  captured  the  Comen- 
dador  Mayor,  his  two  brothers  and  his  son, 
with  others,  and  carried  them  off  to  Alma- 
gro  and  thence  to  Calatrava.  King  John 
sent  a  letter:  the  Master  was  too  ill  for 
business  and  the  Keeper  appealed  to  Rome; 
then  the  Master  died  and  Fernando  de 
Padilla  was  elected  in  his  stead,  but  never 
confirmed,  for  the  King's  consent  could 
not  be  had — the  plan  being  now  to  put  in 
a  cousin,  D.  Alfonso,  the  King  of  Navarre's 
natural  son — nor  could  the  Keeper  get  a 
safe-conduct  to  come  up  for  investiture. 
He  had  released  D.  Juan  Ramirez  de 
Guzman,  who  swore  loyalty  to  him  as  Mas- 
ter but  returned  within  a  few  days  with 
the  Infant  D.  Enrique  and  besieged  him 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


in  the  Castle  of  Calatrava,  and  there,  by 
accident,  upon  the  walls,  he  was  wounded 
by  one  of  his  own  men,  and  so  died.  His 
brothers  were  able  to  conceal  this  long 
enough  to  make  good  terms  for  the  sur- 
render. Juan  de  Mena,  feeling  compelled 
to  praise  him  and  caring  little  about  him, 
made  shift  with  some  fine  verses  that  ring 
like  scabbards  on  saddle-leather  when  men 
ride  hard : 

I  saw  in  the  lift,  as  it  passed  over  flying, 
The  new-released  soul  of  the  saintly 

Lord-Keeper, 
Discharged  from  the  warrior's  body 
-    that  deeper 
In  righteousness  plunged  as  he  strove 

unto  dying. 

If  faith  be  accorded  to  me  in  my  singing 

Forever    in    memory    will    stand    as 

perfected 
The  fame  and  the  name  of  that  Master- 
elected 
That   I   shall  send   down   through   the 
centuries  ringing. 


79 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


Lines  on 
the  Death 
of  the 
Keeper 


by  Juan 
de  Mena 


80 


Aragon 
intrudes 
again 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


Elect  by  the  world  as  a  warrior  from 

youth, 

Elect  as  the  Master  by  valour  unmoved. 

Elect  by  all  men  for  his  virtue  approved, 

Known   for   his   constancy,   known   for 

his  truth.  .  .  . 


I 


D.  Alfonso  of  Aragon  and  Navarre  was 
a  half-brother  of  Ferdinand  the  Catholic. 
He  was  not  professed  until  after  he  was 
elected — which  shows,  if  anything,  a  canny 
mind  and  a  shameless.  In  the  war  which 
followed  he  backed  his  father  against  his 
uncle  of  Castile:  the  latter,  conquering, 
calle'd"  a  new  election,  in  which  D.  Juan 
Ramirez  the  Comendador  Mayor  again 
received  some  votes  but  the  majority  went 
to'D.  Pedro  Giron.  This  meant  a  schism 
into  three,  and  two  intrusions,  any  way 
you  counted.  Finally  the  Comendador 
accepted  a  pension — paid  part  by  the  Mas- 
ter and  part  by  the  King — and  retired. 
D.  Alfonso  held  Aragon  for  ten  years  and 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


a  half  and  then  decided  for  matrimony 
instead,  and  secured  a  Papal  dispensation 
on  the  ground  that  he  had  never  wanted  at 
he^rt  to  be  professed  though  verbally  he 
was.  Comment  here  would  be  no  addition, 
as  Juan  de  Mena  says  somewhere. 

D.  Pedro  Giron  had  for  brother  the 
Marquis  of  Yillena,  D.  Juan  Pacheco,  one 
of  the  great  lords  of  Spain,  involved  in 
politics  to  the  eyebrows.  He  was  himself 
an  important  piece,  pushed  from  one  square 
to  another,  set  down  now  on  one  side  of 
the  board  and  now  on  the  opposite,  in 
that  long  game  where  liberty  was  the  stake 
and  both  sides  lost.  The  Master  stood  in 
with  the  unhappy  Prince  D.  Enrique,  and 
helped  him  in  rebellion  against  the  foolish, 
old,  helpless,  poeteering  King  John  and  his 
perpetually  changing  masters  among  the 
great  nobles.  With  him,  he  galloped 
through  the  streets  of  Valladolid  in  the 
little  band  that  after  the  funeral  showed 
the  new  King  to  the  town,  heralds  and 
trumpeters  sounding  before  and  the  royal 
flag  beating  in  the  wind  while  the  king- 
at-arms  gave  out  the  cry,  from  interval  to 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


81 


The  House 
of  the 
Paohecos 


D.  Enri- 
que's 
accession 


82 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

One  of  the 
Divers 
Feats  is 
D.  Enri- 
que's 

interval,  *' Castile  for  King  Henry!"     He 
was  made  Camarero  Mayor  and  shared  in 
the  expedition  against  Granada  that  began 
so  gallantly.    You  may  read  it  all  in  the 
Divers  Feats  of  Mosen  Diego  de  Valera: 
how  first  the  King  would  risk  his  life  in  a 
skirmish,  an  arrow  reached  him  and  the 
nobles  blamed  him;  and  then  he  would  not 
risk  his  army  in  an  ambush,  or  what  seemed 
such — and  again  the  nobles  blamed  him; 
how  finally  he  made  a  truce  on  terms  of 
tribute  and  supplies  of  food  and  fruit  and 
goodwill,  and  the  release  of  all  Christian 
captives,    and   still   the   nobles   were    ill- 
content.     In  the  following  year  another 
expedition  was  already  launched,  when  the 
King  had  news  of  conspiracies  in  Castile 
and  withdrew  to  go  up  thither,  nor  indeed 
did  he  ever  get  back  to  finish  what  had  been 
so  hardly  begun.    Even  so  far  back  as  in 
April  of  1455,  at  the  first  setting  out,  near 
Cordova,  according  to  the  Chronicle  of  the 
King's  chaplain,  Diego  Enriquez  del  Cas- 
tillo, some  of  the  King's  friends  knew  of  a 
conspiracy  to  seize  the  King's  person,  and 
they  persuaded  the  King  to  change  his 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


plans,  so  that  it  came  to  nought.  If 
this  were  so,  it  cannot  have  been  the  fruit- 
less breaking  off  of  the  campaign  that  threw 
the  Master,  afterwards,  into  the  party  of 
the  King's  brother  D.  Alfonso. 


I 


There  is  no  reason  to  seek  for  personal 
motives  in  these  times,  nor  yet  an  ideal 
shattered;  for  politics,  like  religion,  con- 
stituted a  separate  sphere,  and  a  man's 
personal  honour  enjoyed  strange  exceptions 
and  reservations. 

The  realm  was  infected  with  policy  and 
torn  by  parties  and  ravaged  by  such  dissen- 
sion precisely  as  that  of  York  and  Lan- 
caster, as  that  of  Burgundians  and  Arma- 
gnacs,  which  existed  elsewhere  in  those  same 
days,  in  those  very  years,  while  the  relation 
of  Aragon  to  Castile  was  even  more  tor- 
mented than  that  of  England  to  France. 

Yet  these  are  the  years  when  Sir  Thomas 
Mallory  wrote  the  Morte  d' Arthur  and 
still  in  the  lifetime  of  some  of  these  men 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


83 


Public  and 
private  vir- 
tue have  no 
common 
denomina- 
tor 


1469 


84 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

Sir  Bors's 
elegy 

Caxton   was   to   print  it   in   black-letter; 
and  to  finish  it  with  such  good  words  and 
touching  as   rarely  were  written   in   any 
tongue  of  men's  d^ily  speech: — 

There,  Sir  Launcelot,  there  thou  liest, 
thou  that  wert  never  matched  of  any 
earthly  Knight's  hand;    and  thou  wert 
the  courteousest  Knight  that  ever  bare 
shield;    and  thou  wert  the  truest  friend 
to  thy  lover  that  ever  bestrad  horse; 
and  thou   wert  the  truest  lover  of    a 
sinful  man  that  ever  loved  woman;  and 
thou  wert  the  kindest  man  that  ever 
struck  with  sword;    and  thou  wert  the 
meekest  man  and  the  gentlest  that  ever 
ate  in  hall  among  ladies ;  and  thou  wert 
the  sternest  knight  to  thy  foe  that  ever 
put  spear  in  rest.    Then  there  was  weep- 
ing and  dolour  out  of  measure. 

There  you  have,  like  a  Credo,  the  ideal  of 
that    tormented    and    exquisite    fifteenth 
century,  and  it  is  doubtless  as  true  a  picture 
of  a  man  as  Kipling's  Strickland  or  Mere- 
dith's Red  worth  or  James's  Strether.     For 
his  beliefs  are  what  a  man  lives  and  dies 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


by,  and  at  this  moment  belief  and  conduct 
existed  in  complete  and  coherent  systems 
indeed,  but  in  more  than  one,  and  a  man 
passed  with  immunity,  as  I  have  said, 
from  one  into  another,  as  though — if  you 
like — from  one  dimension  into  another. 


I 


In  the  figures  of  the  two  Girones,  father 
and  son,  who  were  both  Masters  of  Cala- 
trava,  reappears,  clear  and  full-coloured, 
the  knightly  ideal  of  that  chivalry,  artificial 
but  not  unreal,  which  flushed  all  Spain  with 
sunset-light  and  which  was  lovely  as  are 
all  things  that  pass. 

In  the  war  of  Granada  there  was  a  bril- 
Uant  hazana;  the  Master  met  and  van- 
quished a  Moorish  knight,  and  sent  his 
head  to  the  Reyna  mora.  Against  the 
King  of  Navarre  he  served  D.  Enrique  well 
and  turned  all  to  advantage;  he  had  con- 
cessions confirmed  to  the  Order,  as  he  had 
already  had  Osma  and  Cazalla  attached  to 
the  Maestrazgo  in  exchange  for  other  towns 


85 


The  ideals 
of  honour 
and  religioi 
are 

mutually 
exclusive 


AND  MONOGRAPHS 


D.  Pedro 
Giron 


86 


The 
tragedy- 
rehearsed 

at  Avila 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


less  desirable;  then  when  Archidona  was 
taken,  the  convent  of  S.  Salvador  de 
Pinilla  in  the  diocese  of  Siguenza  submitted 
to  him,  and  the  nuns  so  long  as  it  survived 
wore  the  habit  of  S.  Bernard  with  the  red 
cross  of  Calatrava. 

In  the  rebellion  at  Avila  the  Master  was 
one  of  the  principal  actors,  when  the  King 
was  dethroned  in  effigy  and  the  Infant  D. 
Alfonso  received  homage  in  his  place.  The 
Marquis  of  Villena  his  brother,  and  his 
uncle  Carrillo,  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo, 
were  equally  engaged;  they  were  strong 
men,  not  to  be  conquered  or  subdued.  As 
befell,  the  King's  party  were  in  good  point, 
and  the  commons  rose  in  indignation,  by 
whom  Carrillo  was  burnt  in  effigy  at 
Valladolid.  It  was  a  moment  for  mutual 
advantage,  and  without  much  trouble  the 
Archbishop  of  Seville,  Alfonso  de  Fonseca, 
himself  no  friend  of  the  King's,  made  a 
peace  between  them.  The  King  probably 
consented  to  receive  Pacheco's  advice,  and 
the  Master  agreed  to  serve  the  King  with 
all  his  force,  to  lend  him  money,  and  to 
marry  his  sister  Dona  Isabel. 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

87 

Reading  the  historian's  indifferent  page, 
one  is  hardly  aware  of  the  event  till  the 
leaf  is  turned,  one  hardly  rouses  to  wonder 
what  would  have  been  the  fate  of  Spain 
had  this  approved  knight  and  CastiUan 
noble,  stubborn  and  incontrollable,  been 
the  consort  of   Isabel  the  Catholic.      It 
was  agreed:  Frey  Pedro  de  Acuna  went  to 
Rome   for  the   dispensations  that  would 
allow   him   to   marry   and   to   resign   the 
Mastership  to  his  son.    It  was  under  way: 
the  little  eight-year-old  lad  was  set  in  the 
IMaster's  chair  and  the  knights  kissed  his 
hand  and  swore  fealty:    in  the  palace  at 
Almagro  D.  Pedro  Giron  made  great  and 
costly  preparations,   not  only  in  liveries 
and  other  things  needful,  but  in  stones, 
brocades,  hollands,  jewels  and  other  things 
of  great  worth,  to  give  to  the  Infanta  whom 
he  had  already  married  conditionally  at 
Penafiel — the    dispensation    being    surely 
expected.    Here  is  some  ground  for  quaint 
speculation:  when  he  was  married  I  know 
not,  nor  how  long  he  was  away  from  the 
Princess,  but,  intending  to  rejoin  her  in 
Madrid,  he  set  out  with  all  his  deudos,  his 

Queen 
Isabel's  first 
marriage 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

88 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

The  death 
of  the 
Master 

own  kinsfolk,  clients  and  personal  following 
of  Girones,  Pachecos,  Acufias  and  Carrillos, 
"and  other  principal  knights."    They  lay 
the  first  night  at  Villarrubia,  and  there 
the  Master  fell  so  sick  that  within  four  days 
he  was  dead.     No  doctors  could  discover 
what  his  sickness  was,  and  it  was  generally 
thought  that   some   great   nobles   of   the 
realm,  misliking  the  marriage,  had  poisoned 
him.      Certainly  it  is   a  strange  circum- 
stance, as  the  old  chronicler  remarks,  that 
his  death  was  reported  throughout -Castile 
three  days  before  he  died.     He  has  been 
called  arrogant  and  outrageous,  certainly 
he  was  both  stubborn  and  daring:   all  that 
ambition     could    dream    his    hand    was 
stretched    out    to    take.      If    Alonso    de 
Palencia   were   to   be   beheved,    he   died 
blaspheming   God   for   not   granting   him 
forty  days  more  to  live;    but  Alonso  de 
Palencia  is  not  to  be  believed  in  the  matter 
of  Dona  Isabel's  adventures.     It  was  his 
business,   and   that   of   Mosen   Diego   de 
Valera,  to  blacken  King  Henry's  character, 
as  the  chancellor  Ayala  had  blackened  King 
Peter's,    to   the    end    that    rebellion    and 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


usurpation  should  appear  God's  judgement 
and  the  unhappy  monarch  an  abhorred 
monster. 

Whether  or  not  there  was  poisoning,  and 
whether,  if  so,  there  was  connivance  in 
high  place,  who  shall  say?  At  any  rate,  in 
the  days  when  she  ruled,  Isabel  the 
Catholic  knew  all  that  concerned  her  in  the 
kingdom  and  a  good  deal  more :  here  again 
there  is  space  for  serious  speculation. 

On  the  spot,  in  Villarrubia,  his  son,  D. 
Rodrigo  Tellez  Giron,  was  sworn  again, 
and  for  the  time  the  Pope  put  the  Order 
into  commission  under  the  Marquis  of 
Villena,  who  was  afterwards  elected  Master 
of  Santiago  and  governed  both  Orders  at 
once.  At  twelve  D.  Rodrigo  took  over  the 
charge ;  at  seventeen  he  espoused  the  cause 
of  Doiia  Juana  the  heiress  of  King  Henry 
now  dead,  and  captured  Giudad  Real:  but 
the  town,  which  had  never  been  willing  to 
belong  to  the  Order,  appealed  to  Ferdinand 
and  Isabel;  they  sent  against  him  the 
Gount  of  Gabra  and  the  Master  of 
Santiago,  and  he  wa^  defeated. 

Another  episode  of  this  time  throws  light 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


89 


To  load  th( 
scales  and 
make  blinc 
Justice 
squint 


90 


Fuente- 
ovejuna 


Lope  de 
Vega 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


— like  the  revolving  beacon  on  capes  and 
islets — on  more  than  one  point.  At  Fuen- 
teovejuna  the  town  rose  against  the 
Comendador  Mayor  of  the  Order,  who  was 
there  at  the  time,  took  the  house  of  the 
Order  and  killed  all  the  members,  throwing 
the  Comejidador  out  of  the  window  before 
he  was  dead.  Those  below  slashed  him  into 
little  bits.  The  Catholic  Kings  sent  commis- 
sioners who  investigated,  with  torture  of 
women  and  little  boys,  but  no  one  would 
admit  who  had  been  the  leader  in  the 
uprising.  To  the  question:  "Who  killed 
the  Comendador  Mayor?' '  there  was  always 
the  same  answer.  "Fuenteovejufia":  to 
the  next,  *'Who  is  Fuenteovejuna? "  the 
single  answer,  "Everybody."  Lope  de 
Vega,  who  strikes  deep  roots  into  the  soil 
of  Spain,  has  not  forgotten  this  traditional 
matter  in  his  play  of  Fuenteovejuna:  which 
is  indeed  as  full  of  the  pride  of  history  and 
the  consciousness  of  race  as  King  Edward 
II  or  Kitig  Richard  III. 

Meanwhile  the  Clavero,  D.  Garcia  Lopez 
de  Padilla,  stood  by  the  Catholic  Kings, 
and  many  knights  with  him,  and  finally 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

91 

D.  Rodrigo  "came  in"  as  the  Scots  say; 
and  thereafter  found  his  occupation  against 
the  Moors.     In  1482,  when  he  died  before 
Loja,    Padilla   was   elected — the    twenty- 
ninth  master  and  the  last. 

When  a  historian  remarks  bitterly  that 
D.  Rodrigo  at  the  time  of  his  election  was 
a  baby  as  well  as  a  bastard,  he  is  something 
less  than  just,  for  in  an  epoch  and  a  land 
when  kings  of  Spain  by  law  attained  ma- 
jority at  fourteen,  and  King  Peter  assumed 
power  at — as  I  think — eleven  years,  the 
Master  counted  already  twelve.    He  died  at 
twenty-seven:  too  short  a  time  in  all  was 
allowed  him  for  heroic  action.    He  did  not 
live  to  be  a  great  captain,  but,  as  Menendez 
y  Pelayo  says,  his  barbaric  audacity,  his 
striking  and  comely  carriage,  and,  above  all, 
his  early  and  heroic  death,  set  a  glory  about 
his  name  and  marked  his  figure  for  the 
Romances.     Like  others  of  his  name,  the 
Gothic  King  and  My  Cid  Ruy  Diaz,  he 
enjoys  a  complete  legende  which  may  be 
pieced    together    out    of    the    Romances 
and  augmented  from  the  masterpiece  of 
wild   fantastical  history   and  enchanting 

The  age 
of  majority 
in  Spain 

Character 
of  the 
Master 
D.  Rodrigc 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

92 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

"LAy  Dios, 
que  buen 
caballerol" 

poetry   of    manners,    The    Civil    Wars    of 
Granada. 

Here,  unfortunately,  is  not  the  place  for 
that  emprise,  but  the  best  of  the  Romances 
though  perhaps  the  least  historical,  that 
which  Timoneda  had  chosen  for  the  Rosa 
Espafiola,  may  perhaps  find  room. 

The  Master  of  Calatrava 

he  was  a  goodly  knight 
And  in  Granada  meadow 

the  Moors  he  put  to  flight: 
He  came  with  but  three  hundred 

the  ruddy  cross  that  wore 
And  swept  it  from  the  mountains 

clear  to  Granada's  door. 
Though  the  Elvira  portal 

hurling  his  long  spear  stout: 
The  gates  were  barred  with  iron 

and  not  a  Moor  stepped  out. 
Word  came  to  Albayaldos 

where  in  his  land  lay  he, 
He  mustered  barks  and  galleys 

to  bear  men  over-sea: 
The  Young  King  of  Granada 

came  out  to  greet  him  fain 
"You  are  welcome,  Albayaldos, 

and  welcome  yet  again. 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


If  so  you  come  for  hire 

I  will  give  you  double  pay, 
Or  if  'tis  for  a  bridal, 

here  is  many  a  bonny  may." 
''Thanks,  thanks,  good  King,"  he  an- 
swered, 

'*I  come  not  for  a  fee, 
Nor  come  not  for  a  bridal, 

My  wife  will  do  for  me. 
But  word  came  to  me  yonder 

where  over-sea  I  slept 
That  yon  accursed  Master 

besieged  Granada  kept." 
'"Tis  sooth,"  the  Moor  King  answered 

and  paused  and  sighed  a  space; 
''There's  no  Moor  in  the  country 

can  meet  him  face  to  face, 
Unless  it  were  Escado, 

Alhama's  seneschal. 
And  when  he  risked  a  sally, 

it  cost  a  heavy  toll; 
Of  twenty  thousand  men  he  took 

not  one  came  home  again. 
And  him,  sore  wounded,  his  good  mare 

fetched  back  across  the  plain." 
"O,  foul  fall  Mohammed!" 

said  these  that  stood  about, 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


93 


An  old 
Romance 


94 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


of  the 
frontier 


"When  a  frieze-f rocked  friar 

can  shake  his  lance  without!" 
''Call  up  and  give  me,  King, 

the  best  of  all  thy  men, 
Footmen  of  thy  household, 

and  horsemen  of  Jaen, 
And  I  will  fetch  the  Master 

within  Granada's  walls." 
''Peace,  Albayaldos,"  spake  a  Moor 

"such  boasting  ill  befalls. 
The  Master  is  a  youngster 

and  lusty  in  the  fray, 
If  in  the  field  he  catch  you 

your  beard  will  shake  that  day." 
Then  Albayaldos  answered 

with  an  evil  thing: — 
"A  blow  would  be  my  answer, 

were  it  not  for  the  King." 
"Your  blow  would  be  returned  you 

by  three  good  sons  of  mine, 
For  in  the  realm  my  children 

still  guard  three  cities  fine: 
In  Guadix  one  is  senechal, 

and  one  in  Baza  town. 
In  Lorca  one  is  senechal 

that  city  of  renown, 
While  I  am  old  in  years,  and  so 

Alhama  is  my  care: — 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN    SPAIN 

95 

Dog  of  a  Moor,  the  insult 

you  dearly  should  repair!" 
The  good  King  called  for  silence 

and  nothing  more  was  heard 
Till  Albayaldos  asked  for  leave 

with  his  men  to  keep  his  word. 
The  good  King  gave  him  license 

and  plenty  soldiery. 
And  in  the  Jaen  country 

they  lifted  all  the  kye, 
And  with  the  sheep  the  shepherds, 

and  lads  and  maids  forby. 
But  when  a  stream  they  forded 

right  at  the  river's  edge 
A  shepherd  slipped  away  from  them 

of  those  they  held  in  pledge. 
And  on  the  gates  of  Jaen 

he  hammered  hard  and  cried: — 
"Where  are  you,  Master?   Waken  I 

Call  up  your  men  and  ride. 
Your  glory  all  is  stolen 

by  Albayaldos  on  this  day." 
The  Master  heard  him  calling 

where  in  his  halls  he  lay; 
''Peace,  shepherd,  peace,"  he  answered. 

"Such  word  you  may  not  say. 
Tomorrow  I  will  find  again 

the  glory  lost  to-day. 

a  gallant 
feat 

and  a 
great  word 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

96 


Garci  L6pez 
de  Padilla 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


To  arms,  my  knights  and  comrades! 

Up,  up,  and  arm  you,  each!" 
And  straightway  in  the  field  he  was, 

urging  them  still  with  speech. 
At  the  entering  to  a  valley 

where  first  it  opened  fair, 
They  saw  the  Moors  advancing: 

the  Master  called  them  there. 
"On  them,  good  knights!    Set  at  them, 

that  none  escape  the  fray, 
Now  grip  your  horse  and  fix 

your  lance  and  strike  your  prey!" 
When  Albayaldos  met  them 

moving  in  this  array 
The  Master's  fierce  encounter 

slew  man  and  steed  straightway ; 
The  Moors  broke  up  and  fled 

each  one  a  different  way. 


I 


Garci  Lopez  de  Padilla  was  a  good  Mas- 
ter. In  time  of  peace  he  abode  at  the  con- 
vent, and  kept  his  place  in  the  choir,  and 
lived  like  a  good  Religious.  He  would  have 
fetched  the  body  of  Abbot  Raymund 
thither  but  the  monks  of  S.  Bernard  in 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


Toledo  would  not  part  with  it,  so  he  gave 
them  a  rich  ark  or  shrine  for  the  precious 
bones.    In  1487  he  died. 

Then  the  Kings  begged  a  Bull  of  Innocent 
VIII,  reserving  the  provision  of  Mastership 
of  the  Orders  as  it  came  vacant,  and  they 
governed  as  administrators.  Isabel,  as  a 
woman,  was  probably  disqualified  from 
holding  the  title,  and  Ferdinand  no  less,  as 
being  married  and  holding  already  Santiago 
and  Alcantara.  The  Comendador  Mayor  at 
this  time  was  D.  Gutierre  de  Padilla,  of 
whose  hospital  in  Almagro  I  have  already 
spoken:  in  the  convent  also  founded  there 
of  nuns  called  Comendador  as  de  Calatrava 
the  ladies  of  the  Padilla  family  had  a  pref- 
erence, but  all  members  must  be  noble, 
hijasdalgo,  so  likewise  their  father  and 
mother  and  grandparents,  and  clean  of  all 
race  or  admixture  of  Jews,  Moors,  or  com- 
moners. 

At  the  death  of  King  Ferdinand  Cardinal 
Adrian,  administering  the  kingdom  for 
Charles  V,  called  a  Chapter-General  in 
Guadelupe,  sending  word  that  it  could  not 
elect  a  Master,  for  the  Pope  had  given  the 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


97 


The 

Catholic 
Kings        ^ 
take  hold 


Limpieza 


98 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

The  Castle 

of 

Calatrava 

Legitimist 
ferocity 

Maestrazgo  to  Charles  V:    he  came  down 
and  argued  it  with  them  in  person.     So 
because  they  could  not  help  themselves, 
the  Order  elected  Charles  V,  and  Leo  X 
confirmed  this:    and  D.  Garcia  de  Padilla 
was   Comendador  Mayor.     That  was  not 
the  end  of  the  Order,  for  it  exists  still :    it 
was  the  end  of  its  history^. 

1 

Says  Madrazo: 

To  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
the  Castle-Convent  lasted,  as  a  mother- 
house,  inhabited  by  clerks  of  the  institu- 
tion and  preserved  with  love  and  respect. 
Now  there  are  only  ruins  on  the  steep 
height;    for  they  moved  into  Almagro 
and  pulled  it  down  so  that  they  could 
not  be  sent  back.     Some  of  the  tomb- 
stones are  in  La  Calzada  de  Calatrava. 
in  the  Maldonado  house  of  the  sixteenth 
century.    This  is  the  nearest  village  and 
grew  up  under  its  protection:  and  there, 
in  1834,  the  Carlist  troops  burned  the 
church  tower  with  a  hundred  and  sixty- 
three  persons  who  had  taken  refuge  there. 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN    SPAIN 

99 

The  Castle  crowns  a  height  and  guards  a 
gateway  of  the  hills;   like  great  dogs,  chin 
on  paw,  the  Convent  and  a  smaller  castle 
opposite,  keep  watch  above  the  road.    The 
curtain  walls  yet  stand,  the  flanking  towers, 
and  many  chambers  therein;    the  church 
is  not  yet  roofless.    With  wide  nave  and 
aisles  of  four  bays,  deep  round  apse,  the 
chevet  of  eight  parts  and  the  parallel  side- 
apses   deep   too,   rib- vaulted   with   brick, 
sustained  on  massive  columns,  the  archi- 
tecture is  characteristic  Cistercian.      The 
capitals  are  all  plain,  the  big  red  stone 
columns  are  like  the  western  door  and  the 
great  rose  above;    but  some  bits  of  the 
marble  facing  to  doors  and  windows,  of 
fifteenth-century  work,  lie  about,  and  a 
little  Mudejar  arcading  in  horseshoe  cusp- 
ing  clings  within  the  apses  and  outside  the 
northern  one.     The  stains  are  left  where 
once  stood  frescoed  saints,  and  the  sparkle 
of  their  halos  in  strayed  sun-rays  has  not 
all  died.      In  a  sort  of  chantry,   at  the 
eastern  end,  the  Master  D.  Pedro  Giron 
had  prepared  his  tomb,  and  all  the  lovely 
chapel  was  designed  and  wrought  for  him 

The  church 

A  new  date 
for  Anne- 
quin  de 
Egas 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

100 


not  in 
Llaguno  or 
Cean  Ber- 
mudez 


Thunder- 
cloven  pin- 
nacles of 
the 
mountain 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


by  Annequin  de  Egas,  the  master  of  Toledo 
Cathedral :  the  will  he  signed  in  1467  refers 
to  Maestre  Haniquin.  Many  towers  still 
stand  secure,  and  the  springing  vault-ribs 
cling  to  the  walls  of  them;  and  innumer- 
able long  barrel -vaulted  chambers,  quite 
dark,  that  were  store-rooms,  are  still  sound. 
A  neat  bowling-green  of  turf,  edged  with 
great  shrubs,  covers  the  roof  of  the  church, 
looking  as  if  planted  symmetrically.  Except 
in  the  church,  there  is  much  bad  building, 
of  broken  stones  of  all  sizes  and  shapes, 
with  some  courses  of  bricks  in  places,  and 
in  places  a  timber  introduced,  as  the  castle 
was  built  at  Mycenae  perhaps  three  millen- 
niums before.  The  situation,  indeed,  is  not 
unlike,  except  that  the  mountains  here  are 
not  so  close.  From  the  top  of  towers  three 
lines  of  wall  are  plain,  and  the  castle,  cover- 
ing the  hill-top,  counted  many  stories.  It 
is  built  into  the  crest,  the  thunder-cloven 
pinnacles  of  the  mountain  are  bonded  into 
the  fabric,  and  live  rock  serves  for  wall  and 
buttress  and  angle-stone.  The  rock  and 
turf  drop  steeply  away  on  one  hand  to  the 
road  far  below,  and  on  the  other  almost  as 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


Calatrava;   mountain  rock  and  Cistercian 
building 


IN     SPAIN 

101 

steeply  to  arable  land  almost  as  far;    a 
green-mantled  tank  still  holds  faithfully 
its  treasure  of  hoarded  water.     If  once 
there  were  wells  they  are  dry  now,  and 
blocked   up   and   long   forgotten;     but   a 
cistern  on  arches   {aljihe  is  the    Spanish 
name),  needs  only  filling,  perhaps,  to  serve 
again.     The  sky  leans  close  above  dark 
stone  and  thunder-smitten  rock;  a  wind 
blows  through  the  pass  by  night  and  day, 
and  always  there  is  the  scent  of  crushed 
thyme  and  mint. 

1 

The  Moors  worried  Salamanca  towards 
the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  two 
knightly    brothers    collected    some    other 
knights  and  vowed  perpetual  war  against 
the  Moors .    They  were  D .  Suero  Fernandez 
and  D.  Gomez  his  brother,  grandsons  of 
D.  Rodrigo  Gomez,  Count  of  Salamanca, 
and  related  to  the  royal  house  of  Aragon. 
One  fancies  them  young,  gallant  creatures 
like  the  Twins  at  Chartres  or  at  Leon,  with 

The  Order 

of 

Alcantara 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

102 


White 
mantle 
and  green 
cross 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


their  ardent  vow  sent  ringing  down 
eternity — "perpetual  war!"  A  hermit 
from  the  mountains  southward  suggested 
to  them  something  not  unHke  a  lodge  in  a 
garden  of  cucumbers.  This,  however,  was 
in  a  pear-orchard,  whiter  in  spring-time 
than  the  snows  of  the  mountain  behind. 
They  called  the  brotherhood  S.  Julian  de 
Pereyre,  and,  long  after  they  had  assumed 
a  cross  identical  except  in  colour  with 
that  of  Calatrava,  they  left  the  pear  tree 
set  at  the  heart  of  it.  The  Rule  of  S. 
Benedict  was  modified  to  suit  a  gentleman's 
and  a  military  life:  the  Bull  was  approved 
by  Alexander  III  in  1176,  only  a  year  later 
than  that  of  Santiago.  It  prescribes  neither 
habit  nor  rule.  A  privilege  of  Ferdinand 
II,  dated  in  the  year  before,  shows  them 
already  established  among  the  pear-trees: 
it  was  confirmed  by  Archbishop  Peter  of 
Compostella,  and  the  Bishops  of  Burgos, 
Leon,  Oviedo,  Salamanca,  Astorga,  Za- 
mora,  Ciudad  Rodrigo,  and  the  vacant  see 
of  Coria.  The  enumeration  defines  pretty 
well  the  special  task  of  the  Order :  they  were 
to  fight  up  and  down  the  C amino  de  Plata, 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

103 

and  over  their  peculiar  domain  brooded  the 
great  domes  of  cathedrals  and  collegiate 
churches.     Estremadura  was  their  charge. 
Under  the  third  Master,  D.  Frey  Nuno 
Fernandez,  Alcantara  was  taken  and  given 
to  Calatrava,  to  found  another  Order  in 
the  Kingdom  of  Leon.     Just  so  Santiago 
already  had  two  centres,  one  at  S.  Marcos 
and  the  other  near  to  Cuenca:   it  was  an 
unwieldy  machine,  and  in  1218  the  town 
and  the  bridge  and  castle  were  given  to 
S.  Julian  in  return  for  a  nominal  obedience, 
afterwards  thrown   off.     So  the   knights 
called  themselves  by  a  new  name  and  put  a 
pair  of  fetter-bolts  under  the  pear  tree. 

1 

The  fourth   Master,   D.   Frey   Diego 
Sanchez,  translated  the  convent  to  the 
Castle  of  Alcantara:    now  almost  all  is 
destroyed  but  you  can  see  the  shape  of 
the  church  and  some  tombs  of  Masters 
and  other  knights,  and  the  thirty-eight 
stone  seats  in  the  quire.    For  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  the  Convent  of  the 

The 
domed 
architecture 
of  the 
region 

The 

convent 
in  the 
sixteenth 
century 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

104 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

and  today 

A  mar- 
vellous 

staircase 

Order  was  there;    the  Master's  palace 
stood    alongside.      Later,    the    knights 
lived  where  they  liked,  and  the  clerks 
lived  each  in  his  own  house  in  town  and 
came  to  quire  for  Mass  and  the  Hours, 
till  the   Catholic   Kings  were  commis- 
sioners and  sent  the  clerks  to  S.  Benito 
el  Viejo  out  of  town;  lastly,  they  built  a 
big  house  in  town  where  they  still  are. 

In  1572  Rades  y  Andrada  wrote  thus. 
The  altar  piece  of  Morales  is  scattered  and 
lost,  to-day.  The  church  now  is  ransacked 
and  ruinous.  The  palace  has  become  pri- 
vate dwellings,  humble  tenements  though 
still  princely,  where  donkeys  are  stabled  in 
cells  about  the  great  cloister  that  once  were 
knights'  lodgings. 

A  winding  stair  of  stone  mounts  up 
through  a  huge  tower,  turning  on  itself 
without  a  newel -post,  and  discharges  upon 
successive  platforms  where  the  air  and  the 
view  may  be  enjoyed.  In  the  Chapter- 
room  and  that  above,  every  boss  has  been 
cut  away  for  export  trade,  and  the  roof 
of  the  church  stripped  ofif  likewise.  But 
this  was  not  the  castle  comparable  to  those 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

105 

of  Ucles  and  Calatrava.     The  air  of  the 
place  is  rather  stately  than  strong.    The 
glory  of  the  conquest  lasted  no  longer  than 
an  August  day:    it  passed,  and  the  long 
twilight    of    the    eighteenth    century    yet 
broods  above  each  pinnacled  buttress,  and 
lingers  below  each  vault  and  console. 

The  collegiate  church  was  never  finished: 
it  keeps  three  apses,  and  a  double  transept, 
two  bays  in  depth,  with  windows  high  up 
at  the  west :  then  a  wall  was  run  up  across 
the  incompleted  nave  and  a  poor  brick 
vault  thrown  over  it,  that  now  has  fallen 
in.      The  capitals  are    classical  in  their 
motives,  and  a  rich  plateresque  decoration 
runs  about  the  south  transept;    the  star- 
shaped  vaults  are  adorned  with  a  silver- 
smith's pride,  like  the  consoles  of  the  main 
apse.    The  ravaging  of  the  glorious  church 
has   been   perfectly   systematic   and   per- 
fectly   commercial;     retables    and    altar- 
fronts   have   been   carefully   removed   by 
expert  workers,  and  the  very  glass  of  the 
windows  is  stacked,  in  piled  panes,  for  use 
elsewhere.        From    the    carved     organ, 
corbelled  up  in  the  north  transept,  carvings 

The 
church 
despoiled 
for  dealers 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

106 


The  town 
easier  to 
replace 


MILITARY     ORDER  vS 


have  been  deftly  picked  away.  Nothing 
was  smashed — as  at  Poblet  or  RipoU,  for 
instance — but  everything  which  could  be 
dug  out  by  hammer  and  chisel  is  gone :  the 
kneeling  statues  taken  from  the  apse- 
tombs,  the  very  brasses  from  the  iron 
balustrade.  The  wealth  of  the  Order  that 
rebuilt  the  church  in  the  Spanish  Renais- 
sance and  remodelled  the  palace  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  peopled  the  former 
and  its  cloister  with  alabaster  and  marble 
effigies,  and  furnished  the  latter  with  cast 
bronze  and  beaten  iron-work — like  the 
jewels  of  a  fair  woman  among  brigands, 
was  cause  of  destruction  and  wTong. 

The  town,  except  here  and  there,  is  not 
princely:  many  houses  have  only  one  story, 
or  one  and  a  loft.  A  sweet  place  it  is. 
white- washed  along  its  narrow  ways,  stone- 
paved  through  its  steep  streets,  but  not  to 
be  compared  with  Such  Castilian  strong- 
holds as  Haro  or  such  Aragonese  frontier- 
towns  as  Daroca,  where  every  vista  ends 
in  another  casa  solar.  It  was  doubtless 
planned,  apart  from  the  Convent,  as  easy 
to  destroy  and  easy  to  rebuild,  which  is 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN    SPAIN 

107 

indeed  one  way  of  guarding  the  confines  of 
kingdoms.     By  steep  ways  and  built-up 
levels  and  repeated  zig-zag  descents,  the 
town  ranges  down,  between  long-deserted 
churches  and  half-abandoned  nunneries,  to 
the  gorge  of  the  Tagus,  and  there  the  slope 
is  terraced  and  planted  with  gardens  and 
olive-orchards,  to  the  shaly  edges  of  the 
bank. 

Betwixt  the  setting  sun  and  the  rising 
moon  I  came  upon  the  bridge  suddenly: 
it  was  like  a  painting  by  Mantegna.    The 
bridge  was  plain  and  austere  as  the  land- 
scape.   On  the  farther  hillside  a  Moorish 
watch-tower  clung;  on  the  nearer  bank  a 
Roman    temple    stood,    a    little,    solemn 
bridge-chapel.     The  dark  water  brimmed 
silently    below.      The    tawny    hills    were 
soundless,  the  dim-coloured  stone  arches 
stretched  between  them,  forgetting  noth- 
ing.    Two  little  Spanish  soldiers,  in  dark 
uniforms,  kept  the  bridge-head  with  their 
muskets.    I  crossed  to  them  and  gave  them 
a  good  day,  and  turned  up  the  road  to  see 
the  rose-colour  of  the  full  moon  turn  into 
silver,  and  as  I  came  back  to  recross  we 

The 

Bridge  of 
Alcantara 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

108 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

The 

western 

land 

bade  each  other  go  with  God:   and  I  saw, 
where  the  fiery  ball  of  the  sun  had  sunken, 
only  white  wreaths  of  mist.    I  was  aware, 
for  an  hour  of  life,  of  the  passing  of  time, 
and  the  centuries  stood  still  to  be  measured 
above  the  dark  irresistible  stream.      For 
that  hour  I  seemed  to  breathe  in  the  heart 
of  the  perdurable,   and  in  the  world  of 
change,  to  enter  into  the  changeless. 

1 

Alcantara,  as  I  have  said,  belonged  to 
the  west,  and  it  was  a  mere  accident  of 
politics,    that    for    a    time    (and    perhaps 
intermittently  even  then)  it  gave  obedience 
to  Calatrava.     D.  Frey  Arias  Perez  was  a 
Gallegan  and  Alfonso  IX  was  his  friend, 
and  gave  him  houses  in  Badajoz  and  else- 
where:  and  when  the  King  died,  he  stood 
out  for  the  orphan  princesses  Dulce  and 
Sancha,   holding   in   their   name    Merida, 
Badajoz,  Coria  and  Ciudad  Rodrigo,  with 
many  other  towns.     As  they  had,  in  the 
end,  poor  ladies!  to  accept  a  compromise, 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

•c 

pq 


IN     SPAIN 

109 

and  a  pension,  and  the  estate  of  irreme- 
diable celibacy  which  was  worse,  so  he  too 
submitted  to  King  Ferdinand  and  gained 
Trujillo,  and  set  knights  and  clerks  of  his 
order  there.    There  was  already  a  Convent 
'and  Order  of  Freyles  Trujilleses,  as  noted 
earlier,  but  they  were  another  body:   they 
may,  however,  have  merged  at  this  time 
with  that  of  Alcantara.    This  Master  died 
in  1234. 

The  iiext  Master  retook  Medellin  and 
secured  it  for  the  Order,  also  Elges  which  is 
a  village  of  Coria,  and  other  places.    When 
King  Ferdinand  came  down  from  Bena- 
vente  to  Cordova  he  passed  by  Alcantara 
and  ordered  the   Master  to  follow,  who, 
within  four  days,  came  on  with  six  hundred 
horse  and  two  thousand  of  foot.     That 
was  a  test  of  efficiency.     The  King  gave 
them  a  church  in  Cordova;  then  they  went 
with  D.  Alfonso,  King  Ferdinand's  heir, 
into  Murcia,  and  took  and  peopled  the 
town  they  called  Alcantarilla ;  they  served 
at  the  taking  of   Seville   and  got  town- 
houses  and  villages.     Finally,  after  twenty 
years  of  such  knightly  service,  this  Master 

v.pp.8.159 

The  Order 
under  King 
Ferdinand 
the  Saint 

and  King 
Alfonso  the 
Sage 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

no 


Civil  war 
in  Badajoz 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


was  elected  Master  of  Calatrava  and  passed 
away  from  this  place.  His  successor  stood 
by  the  King  and  the  Prince  D.  Sancho, 
as  the  chronicle  says,  and  the  Infant  D. 
Pedro  rose  with  the  towns  of  Coria,  Sala- 
manca, and  Ciudad  Rodrigo  and  fought  the 
Master.  This  is  worth  the  noting,  because 
later  historians  have  not  always  seen  that 
D,  Sancho  the  Bold  conceived  himself  and 
his  partisans  to  be  on  his  father's  side,  as 
against  rebels  in  open  rebellion.  D.  Fer- 
nando Perez  who  followed  him  was  brother 
to  Suero  Paez  the  Master  of  Santiago;  and 
being  of  Portuguese  lineage,  in  1286  he 
helped  (against  the  rebellious  Infant  D. 
Alonso  of  Portugal)  the  King  D.  Dionis — 
D.  Dinis,  as  the  chronicler  says.  In 
Badajoz  there  was  a  civil  war  between  the 
Portuguese  and  the  Bejaranos,  and  the 
men  of  Bejar,  having  killed  a  good  many 
Portugiiese,  in  self -protection  proclaimed 
for  D.  Alonso  de  la  Cerda;  and  the  Masters 
and  the  forces  of  the  Orders  from  Seville 
and  Cordova  were  sent  thither  to  besiege 
the  city.  It  surrendered  on  promise  of 
life  and  liberty,  but  D.  Sancho  killed  every 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

111 

one  of  the  lineage  and  bando  of  Bejar,  and 
that  meant  more  than  four  thousand  men 
and  women. 

The  region  having  at  the  moment  no 
^IVIoors,  the  Order  continued  to  fight  the 
Portuguese.    The  following  Master  was  a 
Gallegan,   and  he  was  succeeded  by  his 
nephew  whom  he  had  brought  up  in  his 
own   house   and   that   of   a   cousin    (also 
Master) :  a  good  training  for  a  great  office. 
A  number  of  the  castles  of  their  Orders 
along  the  frontier  had  been  given  to  Por- 
tugal, among  them  S.  Julidn  de  Pereyre: 
it  was  said  that  the  Order  of  Avis  held  this 
in  some  sort  of  subjection  to  Alcantara, 
but  that  has  been  denied.    The  Bridge  of 
Alcantara  was  taken  by  the  Prince  Dom 
Joam  and  the  Portuguese  soldiery  of  King 
Dionis:  the  young  Master  came  back  hot- 
foot from  Valladolid  with  a  royal  order  for 
men,  and  on  that  collected  all  he  could  in 
Plasencia  and  sent  to  Caceres  for  more 
For  three  months  a  knight  called  Garci 
Gutierrez  held  the  bridge  from  the  bridge- 
tower — such  men's  names  should  not  be 
forgotten — then   the    Master   took   it   by 

War 
essential 
to  health 

How  Garci 
Gutierrez 
held  the 
bridge 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

112 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

The 
Master 
Ruy 
Vazquez 

storm  and  killed  the  knight  and  those  with 
him:   ''Mori  el  hombre  y  no  su  nombre." 

This    Master,   bred    up    for   the   office, 
was  called  D.  Ruy  Vazquez:  his  adventures 
were  only  beginning.    In  1318  a  conspiracy 
broke  out  against  constituted  authority, 
that  is  against  himself,  the   Comendador 
Mayor  and  the  Clavero.    A  charge  was  laid 
against  them  before  D.  Garcia  Lopez  de 
Padilla,  the  Master  of  Calatrava,  that  they 
evilly-entreated   the   freyles,   knights   and 
clerks  of  the  convent.     Padilla,  as  father 
and  reformer  of  the  Order,  came  in  state, 
with  two  Cistercian  abbots,  him  of  Valde- 
yglesias  and  him  of  Valparaiso.    The  three 
accused  fortified  themselves  in  the  Convent 
but  others  had  gone  out  and  taken  a  city 
gate,  and  these  admitted  the  Master  of 
Calatrava:   and  the  case  was  called.     The 
accused,  who  represented  the  entire  govern- 
ment, denied  the  jurisdiction  of  Calatrava: 
if  knights  were  wronged  they  might  appeal 
to  Rome,  for  Calatrava  had  lost  all  rights 
by  failing  in  obligations,  and  especially  in 
not  summoning  the  A I  aster  of  Pereyre  and 
Alcantara  for  the  elections  of  the  Master 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

113 

of  Calatrava.     The  Convent  was  taken  by 
storm  and  many  knights  were  killed.    As 
.the  chapter  sat,  only  twenty-two  knights 
were  not  on  their  side  in  the  contention; 
notwithstanding,  these  twenty-two  elected 
a  Maldonado  for  Master  in  Ruy  Vazquez's 
stead.    He  assented  under  protest  and  set 
up  for  himself  in  Valencia  de  Alcantara: 
then  he  carried  the  appeal  to  Burgundy. 

This  year  the  three  Masters  of  Cala- 
trava,   Santiago   and   Alcantara   made   a 
hermandad  or  alliance.      He  was  a  great 
figure  still:  he  went  to  the  wedding  of  the 
King's  sister,  Dofia  Leonor,  with  the  King 
of  Aragon:    at  last  he  died  and  was  suc- 
ceeded in  due  process  of  election  by  his 
brother,  who  raised  the  siege  of  Badajoz. 
The  King  for  some  reason  was  ill-pleased, 
and   the    Master,    being    warned  of  that, 
resigned  his  office  into  the  hands  of  the 
Abbot  of  Morimundo,  the  same  who  had 
judged  for  his  brother  eighteen  years  before. 
The  King  insisted  on  nominating,  and  again 
a  small  minority  was  able  to  act:    five 
knights  and  three  clerks  gave  the  habit  to 
the  King's  Almoner,   D.   Gonzalo  Nunez 

Majority 
did  not 
count 

against 
authority 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

114 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

The 
Master 
Gonzalo 
Nunez 

A  barra- 

gana's 

enmity 

of  Oviedo,   and  elected  him.      Fernando 
Lopez  called  a  chapter  in  Alcantara  and  had 
himself  elected,   but  he   died   within  six 
months,  then  his  nephew  Suero  Lopez  was 
elected   but   resigned   his   rights   to   Ruy 
Perez:     this  simplified   and  strengthened 
the  issue.     The  King,  less  pleased  than 
ever,  called  in  the  Master  of  Calatrava  and 
the  Abbot  of  Morimundo  again  for  a  visita- 
tion   and    raised    soldiery    in    Plasencia, 
Coria,  Caceres  and  Trujillo:    Ruy  Perez 
resigned   again  and  Nunez  was  properly 
elected  in  1337. 

God's  judgement  waited  for  him.    Those 
had  been  two  busy  years :  the  new  Master 
sensibly    turned    his    attention    and    his 
knights  against  the  Moors.     The  Master 
was  dear  to  King  Alfonso  XI  and  held  the 
appointment  of  Captain  General,  but  he 
was  to  lose  both  his  estate  and  his  life,  for 
Dona  Leonor  de  Guzman  bore  him  ill-will. 
In  a  very  hke  case  to  his  own  he  had 
opposed   the  election  of  her  brother   D. 
Alfonso  Melendez  Guzman  as  Master  of 
Santiago.     She  complained  to  the  King 
that  the  Master  had  said  much  evil  of  his 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


royal  person  and  many  insults  against  her, 
and  for  false  witnesses  she  produced  the 
Master's  enemies.    The  King  sent  for  him. 

He  evaded  those  charged  to  capture  him, 
and  wrote  bitterly  to  the  King:  it  is  not 
hard  to  guess  what  manner  of  thing  he  said. 
He  came  up  by  the  west-country,  from 
castle  to  castle  of  his  Order,  swearing  the 
Alcayde  not  to  deliver  the  castle  to  the 
King,  and  fortifying  and  provisioning  as 
though  for  war.  The  King  wrote  again, 
urging  him  to  come  with  a  safe-conduct, 
for  whatever  he  might  have  done  his  serv- 
ices should  overbalance  it:  the  Master 
wrote  back  that  since  the  King  believed 
false  folk  and  disloyal,  who  considered  their 
own  interests  exclusively,  he  must  be 
excused  from  coming.  Some  of  the  Order, 
misdoubting  the  event,  besieged  Alcantara, 
castle  and  bridge.  The  King  thanked 
them  and  requested  them  to  elect  a  new 
Master,  Nufio  Chamiso,  the  Comendador 
of  Santibanez:  whereon  D.  Gonzalo  Nuiiez 
offered  to  the  King  of  Portugal  Valencia 
de  Alcantara. 

This  episode  is  what  my  old  chronicler 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


115 


Truth- 
speaking  to 
a  King 


116 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

Banners 
displayed 

calls  a  gallardia,  a  gallant  bit.    The  King 
had  come  up  to  Alcantara  hurriedly,  and 
Chamiso    had    taken    the    town,    but    D. 
Gonzalo   Nunez  held  the  castle,   and  he 
hung  out  all  the  banners  he  had  taken  from 
the  Moors,  and  in  the  midst  thereof  one  of 
white  damask  with  the  arms  of  the  Order. 
There  with  him  he  had  mucha  y  muy  lucida 
gente,    many    shining    lights    of    chivalry, 
Estremefios,   Leonese   and  Asturians,   his 
kinsfolk  and  friends.     Then  he  waited  for 
D.   Pedro  of   Portugal.     But  the   Prince 
dallied,  expecting  news.     He  never  came. 
The  King  claimed  to  enter  by  right  of 
homage  done;   and  he  swore  on  the  Cross 
and  the  Gospels  to  assure  him  every  secu- 
rity, not  to  kill  him  nor  imprison,   nor 
deprive  of  the  Mastery,  nor  let  him  suffer 
molestation  by  royalty  or  by  the  Order. 
The  oath  seems  to  cover  all  contingency. 

When  the  Master  consulted  his  relatives, 
D.   Alvar  Rodriguez  Osorio  warned  him 
ominously  that  it  was  no  new  thing  for 
kings  to  give  a  safe-conduct  to  those  who 
had  offended  them,  and  later  do  their  will, 
so  he  refused  again.    The  King  held  him  in 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

117 

talk  from  a  tower,  while  in  the  meantime 
the  King's  men  tried  to  assault  the  castle: 
he  received  two  strong  stones  on  his  shield 
in  the  defence,  and  as  he  turned  to  go  down, 
others  in  the  back:    the   Comendador  of 
Herrera,  beside    him,   was    shot  with  an 
arrow  and  died. 

Foul  play  and  force  being  baffled,  King 
Alfonso   tried   power.      Returning   to   his 
lodging,  he  called  nobles  and  lawyers  before 
him  and  gave  a  sentence  against  the  Master 
as  a  traitor.     The  Master  called  a  council 
and  settled  down  for  defence,  putting  the 
towers  into  the  charge  of  his  friends,  but 
two  of  these  betrayed  him  to  the  King, 
for  they  had  been  servants  of  the  King 
D.  Alfonso.     The  King's  party  prepared 
scaling  ladders  and  the  next  night  came  in 
silence  and  darkness  to  the  tower,  and  the 
first  up  were  eight  of  the  Order.      When 
sufficient  had  mounted  without  a  sound, 
they  raised  the  deadly   cry   of   ''Castile, 
Castile!    King  Alfonso,  and  death  to  trai- 
tors!"    The  rest  made  what  terms  they 
could,  but  the  Master  held  the  keep:   fire 
was  set  there  and  next  day  he  surrendered. 

Treachery 
of  friends 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

118 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

and  a 

traitor's 

death 

Between 
King  and 
Order 

The  King  made  him  a  speech  in  the  best 
and  most  approved  manner:    **You  came 
to  my  house  a  man  of  no  estate  {homhre  de 
pequena  manera,  he  really  said,   'a  small 
sort  of  man')  and  I  exalted  you  to  high 
estate  and  made  you  a  lord  over  gentle- 
men."   So  he  went  on  and  quite  believed 
that   he   had   been   surprised   as   well   as 
offended:   of  Dofia  Leonor  no  word.    The 
Master  had  time  for  confession  and  then 
was  beheaded,  this  being  in  1338,  and  his 
accuser,  D.  Alonso  Fernandez  Coronel,  lord 
of  Aguilar  and   Motilla,   when  for  other 
offences  he  came  to  die,  confessed  his  false 
witness  and  God's  justice. 

The  history  of  these  three  years  pro- 
vokes reflections  a  little  in  the  King's  vein. 
The  issue  was  between  King  and  Order,  a 
conflict  of  powers  and  a  struggle  for  suprem- 
acy.    One  thing  that  he  might  have  fore- 
seen the  King  overlooked  when  he  put  in  a 
man  from  Oviedo:    that  the  west-country 
was  never  tamed  by  Castile  till  Ferdinand 
and  Isabel  wrecked  it  in  the  process.     He 
thought  to  put  in  his  creature,  who  would 
come  at  his  whistle,  and  found  like  Dofia 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

119 

Urraca  at  Santiago  that  a  great  corporate 
body  takes  up  men  into  itself  and  remakes 
them   in   its   own   image.      As    D.    Diego 
Gelmirez  at  Compostella  from  a  poor  clerk, 
the  servant  of  the  Count  and  Countess, 
became  the  superb  Archbishop,  Apostolical 
and  Primatial,  so  the  Master  who  began  as 
intruso,   and   lived   to   fight   and   to   lose 
against  a  later  intruso,  was  remoulded  by 
the  Order  to  its  service  utterly. 

The  Master  who  began  as  the  villain  of  a 
one  chronicle  play,  ends  as  the  protagonist 
of  a  second  part:   Chamiso  will  grow  glo- 
rious likewise  in  part  the  third.     So  long 
as  history  related  events   and  presented 
portraits,   a  man  was  good  or  bad,   nor 
changed  his  colour  before  the  bitter  end. 
History    to-day,    since    it    offers    neither 
events  nor  figures,  only  a  vague  welter  of 
movements    and    tendencies,    inextricable 
and  indistinguishable,  has  bettered  nothing 
here:   but  those  who  turn  the  dusty  pages 
of   old   chronicles   in   search   of   life   and 
emotion,  of  human  motive  and  conscious 
or   unconscious   state-craft,   may   care   to 
observe  how  a  man  can  begin  as  a  low  sort 

An 

impersonal 

force 

remoulding 

men 

History  not 
portraiture 
only 

nor  only 
record  of 
tendencies 

but  a  drama 
of  men's 
spirits 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

120 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

D.  Nuno 
Chamiso 

The  Black 
Death 

of  politician  and  end  in  the  full  glory  of 
upholding  a  splendid  and  a  foredoomed 
cause. 

D.  Nuno  Chamiso  fought  in  the  Battle 
of  Salada,  though  the  Poem  says  no  more 
than  that  Alcantara  and  Calatrava  fought 
well:   and  he  was  in  the  siege  of  Algeciras. 
Later,    carrying    provisions    to    besieged 
Christians  on  the  other  side  of  the  river, 
and  fording  it  safely  as  he  went,  he  was 
caught   by   the   tide   on  the   return,   and 
drowned.     At  the  siege  as  they  lay,  the 
knights  elected  the  Keeper,  D.  Per  Alfonso 
Pantoja:  he  was  wounded  there,  and  anon 
he  died.      His  death  is  hardly  noticed  in 
the  terrible  mortality  before  that  scorching 
city,    to    which    the    Black    Death    came 
earliest,  in  ships  from  the  east  perhaps. 

-   1 

His  successor  was  a  Guzman,  a  cousin 
of    Dona   Leonor.      At   the   death    of    D. 
Alfonso   he   stayed   with   her   in    ]\Iedina 
Sidonia.     She  gathered  her  friends  there. 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

121 

gave  out  that  the  King  had  married  her, 
and  that  her  sons  were  legitimate,  and  said 
what  she  Hked  of  the  young  King  D.  Peter. 
When  her  relatives  pointed  out  that  the 
King  D.  Alfonso  when  he  knew  her  was 
already  married,  she  said  quite  improper 
things  that  the  Queen  and  D.  Peter  heard: 
they  threatened  the  cabal  and  the  gentry 
scattered.    Then  the  King  sent,  summon- 
ing the  cabal  to  appear  either  at  the  Cortes 
in  Seville  or  at  the  siege  of  Gibraltar. 

To  this  the  Master  replied  that  while 
he  had  no  intention  of  changing  the  king- 
dom, nor  had  ever  had,  nor  of  doing  any- 
thing in  disservice  of  the  King,  yet,  as  his 
life  was  in  danger,   and  because  he  was 
blameless,  he  purposed  defending  himself 
in  the  towns  and  lands  of  the  Order.     The 
King  sequestered  the  rents  and  first-fruits, 
and  ordered  the  knights  to  obey  the  Master 
of  Calatrava,  and  Guzman  came  back  to 
obedience.    He  promised  to  serve  no  other 
King  or  Infant,   and  put  all  the  castles 
except  Alcantara  in  the  hands  of  knights 
whom  the  King  designated,  and  thereafter 
served  King  Peter  loyally  and  faithfully 

A  Guzman 
succeeds 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

122 

MILITARY     0  R  D  E  R  vS 

Two 

months  a 
Master 

and  was   Captain   General   at   Moron   in 
battle  against  the  Moors. 

News  of  his  death  came  to  King  Peter 
before  Toro.     The  tale  that  follows  is  a 
fair  specimen  of  many  that  are  told  by 
Pero  Lopez  de  Ayala,  as  instances  of  King 
Peter  s  cruelty,  yet  it  is  hard  to  see  what 
else  any  king  would  have  done.     He  was — 
as  Andrada  says — a  stubborn  doer  of  his 
will:    he  was  capable  of  great  trust,  and 
when   he   punished   it  was   with   finality. 
There  under  the  battlements  of  Toro  he 
called  a  chapter  and  urged  the  election  of 
D.  Diego  Gutierrez  de  Cervellos,  who  had 
not  the  habit  of  the  Order,  nor  indeed  any 
other,  promising  to  send  for  an  Apostolic 
Bull.     He  sent  the  new  Master  to  Palan- 
zuela  with  some  knights  of  the  Order  and 
others  secular:    anon  he  heard  that  they 
were  conspiring  with  the  enemy.  The  King, 
learning  the  treachery  of  one  he  had  so 
hardily  sustained,  wrote  him  to  leave  the 
siege  to  his  cousin  the  Comendador  Mayor: 
when  he  came  he  was  arrested  and  taken 
to    the    Alcazar    of    Zamora,    and    evilly 
entreated.    The  charge  was  transferred  to 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

123 

Juan  Fernandez  de  Ynestrosa.     Cervellos 
escaped  and  fled  to  Aragon,  and  served  the 
King  there,   having  held  the   charge   for 
fifty-eight  days  and  never  been  professed. 
The  King  D.   Peter  called  a  chapter  in 
Zamora  and  according  to  the  statutes  they 
elected  the  Keeper:    he  served  the  king 
well  and  died  in  Soria,  1371. 

The  Guzman  bastard  was  pressing  D. 
Pedro  hard.      Martin  Lopez  de  Cordova 
was  sent  on  an  embassy  to  the  King  of 
England,  having  sworn  that  he  would  not 
help  D.  Enrique.    He  went  with  the  King 
from  Corunna  to  Bayonne  to  ask  help  from 
the  Black  Prince  and  in  his  absence  was 
ousted  by  D.  Enrique  whom  Pero  Lopez 
de  Ayala  is  calling  King,  as  Fernan  Perez 
de  Guzman  calls  D.  Alonso  King  in  the 
reign  of  Enrique  IV.      D.   Pedro  Nunez 
de  Godoy  intended,  by  the  usurper's  help, 
to  be,  as  he  said  himself,  a  great  lord  with 
two  Masterships.    The  freyles  of  Alcantara 
petitioned  the  Pope,  and  the  Mastership 
was  put  in  commission  with  the  Clavero 
in  charge  to  await  the  event  of  history. 
When  knights  had  fought  on  both  sides 

Lopez  de 
Cordova 
and  Nunez 
de  Godoy 

hold  each 

two 

Maeslrasgos 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

124 


Du  Guesclin 
in  the 
assassina- 
tion 


The 

Romance 
of  Montiel 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


after  Najera,  there  had  been  two  Masters 
and  two  Keepers.  Godoy  was  promoted 
to  Calatrava,  and  Melen  Suarez  was 
elected  Master. 

In  1371  King  Peter  died  at  Montiel: 
we  all  know  how  Du  Guesclin  lent  a  hand 
in  the  treachery  and  the  assassination,  and 
how  a  Gallegan  spoke  a  canny  word:  "I 
make  no  kings,  I  break  no  kings,  but  I  help 
my  Lord."  One  wishes  one  might  hear 
that  quoted  in  testimony  before  the  Judg- 
ment-Seat of  God,  and  know  if  it  were 
allowed  or  ruled  out.  There  are  fragments 
extant  of  a  Romance  of  the  Death  of  the 
King  D.  Peter,  and  though  the  popular 
imagination  has  a  predisposition  towards 
bastards  it  is  moving: 

And  Henry's  men 
They  sing,  they  slash  and  cry 
"Hail,  Henry,  hail!" 
And  Peter's  men 
Clamour,  stoop  and  wail 
Above  their  dead  King. 

One  Gallegan  may  be  set  against  another : 
if  an  Andrada  lent  a  hand  to  D.  Enrique, 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


it  was  Fernan  Ruiz  de  Castro  on  whose 
tomb  was  written,  in  1374: 

Here  lies  all  the  loyalty  of  Spain. 

None  was  better  loved  than  King  Peter, 
and  in  the  midst  of  treason  he  commanded 
the  perfect  loyalty.  Alcantara  was  faithful 
and  preferred  anything  to  D.  Enrique: 
when  the  King  of  Portugal  took  up  the 
title  of  the  princess  Dofia  Beatriz,  the 
daughter  of  King  Sancho  the  Bold,  the 
Master  stood  with  him,  and  the  cities  of 
Ledesma,  Zamora,  Ciudad  Rodrigo,  Coria, 
and  most  of  Galicia.  He  was  defeated  by 
the  Clavero,  and  fled  to  Portugal. 

His  successor,  elected  in  absence  by 
compulsion  of  the  King,  was  D.  Ruy  Diaz 
de  la  Vega,  chamberlain  and  intimate  of 
D.  Enrique,  and  brother  of  Dona  Yfiez 
Diaz  de  la  Vega,  by  whom  the  King  had 
certain  daughters — King  Henry  having  in 
fact  a  fairly  wide  connection  in  this  regard. 

One  daughter,  indeed,  Doiia  Ysabel,  was 
privately  married  to  D.  Gonzalo  Nunez 
de  Guzman  before  he  took  the  habit  of 
Alcantara;     King   Henry   discovered   and 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


125 


Gallegan 
loyalty 


Enrique  de 
Trastamara 
given  to 
women 


126 


His  portrait 
may  be 
found  on 
p.   68 


The  Battle 

of 

Aljubarrota 


MILITARY    ORDERS 


was  wroth,  and  imprisoned  him.  King 
John  I  thereafter  made  him  Master,  and 
the  lady,  with  her  sister,  took  the  Francis- 
can habit  in  S.  Clare  of  Toledo.  Always 
there  was  war  with  Portugal.  In  the  battle 
of  Aljubarrota,  when  the  Master  of  Cala- 
trava  was  killed,  he  was  promoted  to  his 
place.  Here  is  material  of  romance,  a  life- 
time-full: but  less  stirring  than  the  story, 
a  half -century  before,  of  D.  Gonzalo  Nunez 
of  Oviedo. 


I 


The  "marvellous  battle  that  was  at 
Juberoth,"  should  be  told  by  none  but 
Froissart.  The  war  had  been  kept  up  for 
the  benefit  of  French  mercenaries,  and  the 
Spanish  chivalry  was  ill  content : 

"They  would  say  that  King  could  make 
no  war  but  by  the  Frenchmen,  and  in 
like  wise  no  more  could  his  father" — in 
which  they  said  truth,  for  King  Peter  had 
pacified  Castile,  more  than  once,  and  the 
allies  of  King  Henry  had  ravaged  it  again. 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

127 

They  were  Companions  Adventurers  and 
had  nothing  to  lose.    And  on  the  other  side 
the  Master  of  Avis  was  a  King's  bastard 
who  had  made  himself  King  in  Portugal. 
His  forces,  with  their  English  contingent, 
drew  out  from  Lisbon:   'And  without  the 
town  a  quarter  of  a  league  or  there  about, 
there  was  a  great  abbey  of  monks,  whither 
they  of  Juberoth  and  of  other  villages  were 
wont   to   come  and  hear   mass,   and   the 
church  standeth  a  little  out  of  the  way  in 
a  moat  environed  about  with  great  trees, 
hedges  and  bushes:   it  was  a  strong  place 
with  a  little  help."     They  cut  down  the 
trees  and  laid  them  so  as  to  encumber 
cavalry,  and  stationed  their  archers  and 
cross-bowmen  within  the  blockade;    and 
when  the  Spaniards  drew  out  to  view  the 
field  the  advisers  of  the  King  would  have 
him  wait  for  the  morrow,  Sir  Diego  Gomez 
Manrique,  Sir  Diego  Pier  Sarmiento,  Pier 
Gonzalez  of  Mendoza  and  the  Great  Master 
of  Calatrava:   but  again  the  French  urged 
on.     So  the  King  said  at  last,  "I  will  in 
the  name  of  God  and  S.  James  that  our 
enemies  be  fought  withal,"   and  for  the 

English 
allies  in  the 
Spanish 
peninsula 

The 
preparation 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

128 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

The  first 
fight 

honour  of  God  and  S.  George  he  made  a 
hundred  and  forty-two  knights  there  in 
the  field.     "There  might  have  been  seen 
among  these  new  knights  great  nobleness, 
and  they  maintained  themselves  so  nobly 
that  it  was  a  pleasure  to  behold  them,  for 
it  was  a  fair  battle."  These,  as  named  over, 
appear    mostly    Frenchmen,    often    Pyre- 
nean,  and  the  Spaniards  were  sullen,  as 
they   had   been   two   centuries   before   at 
Alarcos,    and   they    agreed   softly   among 
themselves   to   leave   the   vaward   to   the 
French. 

''The  same  Saturday  was  a  fair  day,  the 
sun  was  turned  towards  evensong."     Then 
the  French  advanced,  and  the  English  and 
Portuguese  defeated  them  and  took  many : 
"So  of  these  some  were  put  to  their  finance 
incontinent:    and  some  would  abide  their 
adventure:     for   they   imagined   that   the 
King  of  Spain,  with  his  great  army,  would 
shortly  come  and  deliver  them."    And  the 
news  came  to  him.     "Then  the  Spaniards 
began  to  ride  a  better  pace,  close  together, 
in  good  order,  and  by  that  time  the  sun 
was  near  down."     And  when  the  Portu- 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


guese  saw  them  approaching  ''then  incon- 
tinent they  ordained  a  piteous  deed,  for 
every  man  was  commanded,  on  pain  of 
death,  to  slay  their  prisoners,  without 
mercy,  noble,  gentle,  rich  nor  other,  none 
except." 

As  the  massacre  ended  the  Spanish  host 
charged. 

Here  Froissart  pauses  to  give  his  opinion 
of  the  Spaniard  as  soldier,  speaking  as  a 
half -English  Frenchman,  who  in  all  the 
intricate  policies  of  his  age  had  always  met 
him  as  a  stranger  and  an  enemy. 

True  it  is  at  their  first  setting  on  they 
are  fierce  and  courageous  and  of  great 
courage  and  high-minded,  if  they  have 
advantage.  They  fight  well  a-horseback, 
but  as  soon  as  they  have  cast  two  or 
three  darts  and  given  a  stroke  with  their 
sword,  and  see  that  their  enemies  be  not 
discomfited  therewith,  then  they  fear  and 
turn  their  horses  and  fly  away  to  save 
themselves  that  best  may.  And  at  this 
battle  of  Juberoth  they  used  the  same 
play  [indeed  it  is  very  Arab,  and  it  is 
what  the  frontier  wars  had  taught  them] ; 


AND  MONOGRAPHS 


129 


Prisoners 


The 

Spaniard 
as  soldier 


130 

M  ILITARY     ORDERS 

as  the 
English 
view  him 

Far  more 
than  at 
Ndjera, 
says 
Froissart 

for  they  found  their  enemies  hard  and 
strong   and   as   fresh   in   the   battle   as 
though  they  had  done  nothing    all    of 
the  day  before,  whereof  they  had  marvel, 
and  also  that  they  heard  no  tiding  of  the 
vaward  and  knew  not  where  they  were 
become.    There  the  Spaniards  that  even- 
ing were  in  the  hard  fortune  of  battle  and 
perilous    for    them;     for    as    many    as 
entered  into  their  strength  [the  Portu- 
guese entrenchment]  were  by  valiantness 
of  feats  of  arms  all  slain. 

And  every  man  named  above,  and  many 
more,  were  all  slain;  for  indeed  the  Span- 
ish chivalry,  trained  against  the  IMoors, 
was  inapt  to  meet  the  bull-dog  English 
methods  where  masses  and  endurance  were 
the   measure   of  success. 

"When  the  King  of  Castile  understood 
and  saw  how  his  men  were  thus  discomfited 
and  that  Sir  Raynold  Limousin  was  dead 
who  was  his  marshal,  and  saw  how  all  his 
noble  chivalry  were  lost,  as  well  of  his  own 
realm  as  of  France  and  elsewhere,  such 
as  were  come  thither  to  serve  him  with 
their  good  wills,  were  lost,  he  was  then  sore 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

131 

displeased  and  wist   not  what  counsel  to 
take."   At  last  "the  king  of  Castile  believed 
counsel  and  then  changed  his  horse  and 
mounted  on   a  fresh   charger,  strong  and 
light,  whereon  no  man  had  ridden  before  of 
all  day.  Then  the  king  strake  the  steed  with 
his  spurs  and  turned  his  back  towards  his 
enemies  and  took  the  way  towards  San- 
tarem."     And  the  King  of  Portugal  re- 
fused to  follow  up  the  slaughter. 

So  there  was  a  new  Master  of  Calatrava. 

1 

But  the  CJavero  of  Avis,  a  Portuguese, 
Martinez    de    la    Barbida,    had    not    fol- 
lowed the  Master  of  Avis,  and  the  King 
made  him  Master  of  Alcantara.     He  is  a 
figure  out  of  the  Romances  and  the  long 
legends,  a  younger  brother  of  the  Infants 
of  Lara.     In  the  Moorish  war  he  made  a 
raid  and  took  much  booty,  but  a  hermit 
betrayed  him  to  the  Moorish  King  and  he 
was  caught  behind  and  before,  and  died 
with  many  knights  of  the  Order  and  others 

Romance 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

132 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

;Al  i,  en 
Granada 
la  rica! 

secular.     Some  say,  however,  that  he  was 
captured,    and    taken    to    Granada,    and 
there  he  had,  by  a  Mooress,  a  son,  who  grew 
up  in  Granada  and  afterwards  was  Soldan 
of  Babylon.     He  was  buried  in  the  church 
at  Alcantara,  and  praised  by  his  epitaph 
as  one  who  never,  for  any  cause,  lodged  fear 
in  his  heart. 

Aqiii  jaza  quele  que  por  neuma  cousa 
nunca  owe  pavor  en  sen  coraqon. 

The  next  Master  was  a  child  of  eight, 
the  Infant  D.  Sancho,  the  son  of  the  Infant 
D.  Fernando  the  King's  guardian.     The 
prince   talked   politics   to   the   Bishop   of 
Palencia,  offering  to  put  the  income  of  the 
Master  into  the  Granada  wars  till  he  should 
come  of  age,  and  the  Bishop  replied  trans- 
lating it  with  pious  phrases — it  is  good 
comedy — and  the  bargain  was  made.    The 
little  prince  was  a  postulant  in  the  Convent 
of  Alcantara:    but  he  died  at  seventeen. 
Queen  Catharine,  the  King's  other  guard- 
ian, would  have  given  the  office  then  to  the 
King's  tutor,  D.  Gomez  Carrillo  of  Cuenca, 
but   D.  Juan  de  Sotomayor  was  elected 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

133 

canonically  and  kept  it.  In  the  trouble, 
throughout  this  reign,  with  the  Infants  of 
Aragon,  he  stood  by  the  Infant  D.  Enrique 
who  was  the  Master  of  Santiago. 

His  story  makes  a  racketing  novel  of  the 
sort  that  youth  relishes,  with  history 
enough  to  keep  it  sweet,  and  action  enough 
to  keep  it  plausible.  A  strong  wind  of 
adventure  blows  down  the  Chronicle  of 
John  II,  and  in  the  western  confines  of 
the  kingdom,  among  Benaventes  and 
Zunigas,  the  forces  of  the  great  houses  flood 
and  subside  dike  streams  in  spate.  The 
average  European  reader  will  hardly 
recognize  their  names,  most  of  them,  and 
the  story  must  be  told  more  briefly  here 
than  either  Fernan  Perez  de  Guzman 
merits  or  the  action  that  he  presents. 

The  Infant  of  Aragon,  D.  Enrique,  was 
in  armed  rebellion,  and  the  King  seques- 
tered not  only  his  goods  in  Castile  which 
were  great  but  those  of  the  Mayorazgo 
of  Santiago,  which  he  held  in  usufruct. 
D.  Alvaro  de  Luna,  the  Constable  of 
Castile,  went  down  to  Estremadura  to 
check  his  ravages  there,  the  Masters  of 

The  novel 
of  D. John 
of  Soto- 
mayor  by 
Fernan 
Perez  de 
Guzman 

The 
prologue 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

134 


The  first 
chapter 


I  Ay,  Castillo 
de  Mon- 
tanches! 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


Calatrava  and  Alcantara  being  bidden  to 
lend  their  aid,  and  the  King  of  Portugal 
and  his  son  D.  Eduarte  being  requested 
not  to  harbour  the  cattle  he  was  lifting  and 
the  rest  of  his  loot.  D.  Alvaro's  siege  of 
Trujillo,  in  this  emprise,  is  a  good  story 
but  not  to  the  present  purpose :  the  Alcayde 
was  a  loyal  servitor  and  the  Constable, 
who  was  a  great  gentleman,  knew  how  to 
honour  him.  The  King  himself  arrived  in 
time  to  take  Montanches,  and  save  the 
scruples  of  the  Warden  there.  The  Master 
of  Alcantara  meanwhile  did  nothing:  D. 
Alvaro  had  taken  command  in  his  own 
marches,  and  moreover  D.  Enrique  was  his 
own  friend:  thirdly,  the  Orders,  even  where 
no  precise  hermandad  or  pact  existed,  were 
disposed  to  friendly  action  mutually,  and 
knew  how  to  use  judicious  inaction,  or 
what  the  unions  in  Spain  today  call  a 
passive  strike,  or  even  sabotage.  The  King 
gave  a  letter,  a  castle,  and  some  money. 
The  Master  took  action  for  a  little  while 
and  slackened  again.  So  the  King  issued 
letters  of  sequestration  against  him,  and 
warned  all  men  not  to  follow  him  or  to 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

135 

pay  their  dues   to   the   Maeslruzgo,  fear- 
ing his  support  of  D.  Enrique,  and  mis- 
trusting that  he  might  make  over  to  him 
certain  strongholds.    At  the  same  time  he 
sent  the  Bishop  of  Cuenca  to  mediate  as 
being  his  kinsman  and  friend:    and  with 
him  a  certain  Doctor  Franco:    ''and  the 
King's  intention  notwithstanding  was  that 
the  Master  should  not  tarry  in  that  region, 
for  by  reason  of  his  suddenness  none  might 
be  secure  of  him."     Indeed,  the  whole  of 
the  west  seemed  to  be  up  for  the  Infants  of 
Aragon,  and  the  Bishop  learned  from  a 
devoted  servant  of  the  Master's  that  the 
Infants  lay  for  him  on  the  road  home,  and 
departed  very  ill-content,  and  the  Master, 
being  as  aforesaid  sudden,  sent  after  him  a 
message  agreeing  to  everything  and  stating 
his  requirements  by  the  Clovero  of  the  Order. 
So  ends  a  chapter. 

What  he  seems  to  have  wanted  was  a 
free  hand  in  his  own  parts:   leave  to  stay 
on  Portuguese  soil,  for  instance,  even  if  the 
King  sent  out  a  general  summons:    and 
amnesty  for  the  past,  and  control  of  his 
own  Maesirazgo,  the  estates  and  the  privi- 

Negotiation 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

136 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

The 

second 
chapter 

Action 

leges  and  rents  thereof.    So  thereafter,  as 
it  happened,  one  Saturday  morning  in  June, 
the  eve  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  his  nephew, 
the    Comendador   Mayor,  arrived   to   visit 
him,   Frey   Gutierre  de   Sotomayor.      He 
was  of  the  personal  following  of  the  rebel 
princes,  and  robbed  as  much  as  they  or 
more,   as  the   chronicle   says,   and  more- 
over was  consenting  in  all  the  harm  they 
did  throughout  the  land  and  to  this  end 
he  had  come:  and  he  was,  apparently,  too 
much    for    the    Master's    quieter    second 
thoughts.    They  had  dined  together,  that 
June  midday;    after  dinner  the  Keeper, 
and  the  Master's  secretary,  who  had  been 
involved  in  the  compact,  were  put  under 
arrest,  and  it  was  known  that  the  Infants 
were  present  in  the  outskirts  of  the  town. 
Doctor  Franco,  when  he  knew  this,  gath- 
ered up  his  scarlet  gown  and  pulled  down 
his  furred  cap:    he  would  for  once  have 
ridden  a  hard-trotting  hack,  only  in  order 
to  go  faster  than  a  pace:   he  learned  that 
the  roads  were  held,  and  he  might  not  go. 
In  his  lodging  he  hid  his  papers  as  best  he 
might  where  they  could  not  be  found  even 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

137 

by  searching  through  his  Unen  and  silver 
and  other  property  there:   and  came  back 
to  "the  stronghold  of  Alcantara  which  is 
called  the  Convent,"  and  faced  the  Master 
and  asked  some  awkward  questions:    not 
a  bad  sort,  Doctor  Franco,  in  his  long  gown, 
with  his  scholarly  pallor  gone  a  little  green 
in  the  cheeks  and  about  the  lips !    Had  the 
Master,  perhaps   (being  notoriously  sud- 
den), changed  his  mind  about  the  pledge 
not  to  admit  the  Infants  to  the  city?   Had 
he  indeed  sent  for  the  Infants  who  were 
now  in  the  suburb? 

Truly,  yes,  replied  the  Master:    more- 
over, his  mind  was  changed  about  those 
pledges  and  compacts,  and  he  would  have 
the  papers  back  again,  please.    Then  said 
the  Doctor  ''Impossible,  for  I  have  sent 
them  to  the  King  already. "    So  the  Master, 
leaving  him  under  strong  guard,  went  down 
to  his  lodgings  and  searched,  but  in  vain; 
he  cared  more  for  the  papers  than  the  stuff, 
but  being  annoyed  and  desiring  especially 
not  only  some  pretty  extensive  pardons  for 
the  past,  for  him  and  his,  that  the  King 
had   signed,   but   also   some   other   blank 

Up  and 
down 
Alcantara 
town 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

138 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

The  third 
chapter 

pardons,    that    would    have    been    useful 
things  to  keep— being,  as  I  say,  vexed,  he 
flung  the  things  about  and  took  the  silver 
finally,  and  some  gold  money  that  a  lad, 
the  legist's  body-servant,  had,  and  appar- 
ently let  his  men  take  what  they  liked, 
including  the  beasts,  so  that  nothing  was 
left  but  what  the  Doctor  had  on  when  he 
went  up  the  hill.    The  silver  was  given  to 
the  Infant  D.  Pedro,  and  the  rest  to  his 
men  or  thd  Princes':    lastly  the  lawyer's 
servants  were  all  arrested. 

The  third  chapter  is  this.     That  night 
Doctor  Franco  talked  long  with  the  Comeii- 
dador  Mayor,  and  warned  him  that  he  and 
his  uncle  were  in  the  wrong  way.  and  made 
an  impression  on  him.     But  on  Sunday 
morning  the  Master  handed  over  the  Con- 
vent-fortress of  Alcantara  to  the  Infant  D. 
Pedro,  and  handed  over  the  lawyer.  Doctor 
Franco,  to  the  Infant  D.  Enrique,  and  with 
the  last,  set  out  from  the  town,  and  joined 
Ruy  Lopez  Davalos,  whose  father  had  been 
the  Constable  of  Castile.    The  prisoner  was 
in  his  charge.     As  they  rode,  the  legist 
heard  them  talking  over  their  plan,  which 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


was  to  put  all  that  Alcantara  controlled 
into  the  power  of  the  Princes:  at  best  this 
would  have  made  such  a  situation  for  the 
crown  as  Enrique  IV  faced  when  D. 
Alfonso  and  Dona  Isabel  were  at  the  head 
of  the  rebel  nobles:  at  worst,  it  might  have 
cost  the  kingdom.  The  Doctor  Hstened: 
the  Master  was  to  go  up  towards  Valencia 
de  Alcantara  with  all  the  specie  and  plate 
that  he  could  collect:  the  Prince  was  to 
turn  toward  Albuquerque  of  which  he  was 
Duke,  and  the  Wardens  of  all  the  castles 
were  to  swear  the  same  fealty  to  the 
Princes  as  to  the  Master  himself. 

But  God  has  His  own  ways,  and  a  little 
thing  altered  and  defeated  this  dangerous 
plan.  The  road  which  runs  up  from  Alcan- 
tara to  Valencia,  and  that  which  turns  off 
for  Albuquerque,  run  all  as  one  for  two  or 
three  leagues:  so  the  Master  and  the 
Infant  rode  together  for  these  three  leagues, 
or  some  such :  and  then  the  former  decided 
to  go  with  the  other  and  have  his  escort  for 
the  treasure,  sending  some  of  his  mounted 
men  to  Valencia,  and  some  to  Mayorago, 
a  castle  near  by.    And  they  were  so  angry 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


139 


Conspiracy 

and 

rebellion 


which 
chance 
defeated 


140 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

but  which 
ruined  the 
Master 

with  him  thereupon,  that  they  would  not 
go  where  he  sent  but  left  him  there  and 
scattered,  save  five  or  six  squires.  On  the 
next  day  the  party  came  to  Albuquerque; 
the  Master,  not  daring  to  lie  in  the  town, 
went  up  to  the  castle  with  all  his  men,  and 
put  Doctor  Franco  in  a  tower  there. 

The  nephew  had  waited,  as  planned,  for 
news  from  Valencia :  w^hen  he  learned  where 
the  Master  and  the  treasure  had  gone. 
he  suspected  constraint;  so  also  thought 
those  with  him  and  those  left  to  garrison 
Alcantara;  and  a  like  message  cam.e  from 
Valencia:  moreover,  some  such  possibility 
had  been  foreseen  and  provided  for.  So  on 
July  1st,  while  the  Prince  D.  Pedro  was 
asleep  in  the  hot  noon,  in  the  castle  of 
Alcantara,  the  Comendador  Mayor,  the 
secretary,  who  had  been  arrested,  and 
others,  ten  or  twelve  men  in  all,  came  in 
with  swords  drawn  where  the  Prince  slept 
and  took  him.    And  all  the  town  was  glad. 

In  the  next  chapter  the  Admiral  of 
Castile,  D.  Fadrique,  and  the  Warden,  D. 
Pero  Manrique  his  brother,  who  were  at 
Caceres,  being  apprised  of  this,  make  haste 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

141 

to  present  themselves  but  are  not  admitted 
into  the  town.     The  Master  was  to  be 
moved  to  the  castle  of  Piedra  Buena  and 
the  Keeper  to  come  up  from  Alcantara  to 
make  sure  he  was  not  under  restraint,  for 
the  Infant  D.  Enrique,  rather,  should  be 
held  in  pledge  for  the  services  done  him: 
however,  it  appears  that  the  Master  was 
actually  held  as  a  hostage.    So  the  match 
was  played  out:   the  King  removing  from 
Valladolid  to  Salamanca  to  be  nearer  at 
hand,  with  all  the  coming  and  going  of 
messengers,  and  D.  Pedro  being  removed  to 
Valencia  de  Alcantara,  where  another  uncle 
of  the  Comendador  Mayor  was  Warden,  and 
could  guard  him  better. 

The  historian  has  been  hardly  just  to 
D.  Juan  de  Sotomayor,  who,  for  all  his 
suddenness,  was  a  good  man  in  a  bad  place, 
and  powerless  more  than  once.    Where  the 
King  had  summoned  him   and  sent  the 
Bishop  of  Cuenca,  the  cleric  had  been  afraid 
to  entef  the  lands  of  Alcantara,  and  the 
Master  had  been  afraid  to  leave  them.    In 
refusing  to  go  to  court,  where  his  enemies 
held  the  King's  ear,  he  had  shown  no  more 

The  fourth 
chapter:  de- 
nouement 

A 

marginal 
correction 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

142 


A  man 
foredoomed 


MILITARY    ORDERS 


than  common  caution:  and  he  had  offered 
as  hostages  three  nephews,  all  in  the  Order. 
Then  those  to  whose  interest  it  was,  had 
convinced  him  the  King  meant  death :  and 
again  fresh  negotiations  had  failed  because 
he  could  not  trust  the  King's  word.  Now 
the  pieces  were  so  arranged  upon  the  board 
that  for  him  there  was  only  check  and  mate 
in  successive  moves .  A  chapter  of  the  Order 
sat  in  Alcantara,  and  deposed  him  for 
offences  against  the  King,  and  elected  in 
his  stead  D.  Gutierre  his  nephew — whereby 
the  King  hoped  still  to  keep  D.  Pedro  under 
lock  and  ward. 

The  King  moved  again,  down  to  Ciudad 
Rodrigo,  and  being  there  at  Mass  in  the 
cathedral,  the  new  Master  did  homage  to 
him  there,  between  the  King's  hands,  and 
swore  on  the  Cross  and  on  the  holy  gospels 
to  serve  him  well  and  loyally,  and  received 
the  banner  of  the  Order:  and  that  day  the 
King  had  him  seated  at  his  table  and  freed 
the  city  of  Alcantara  from  certain  taxes. 
He  got  the  King's  pardon  for  his  uncle, 
furthermore,  and  allowed  him  a  pension. 

One    remembers    rather    pitifully    this 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


Greco's  Portrait  of  a  Knight  presented  by  Saint  Julian 


IN     SPAIN 

143 

Master    D.    Juan    de    Sotomayor,    who. 
though  of  gentle  blood,  was  the  son  of  a 
poor  squire  that  had  married  a  farmer's 
daughter,  and  was  so  good  a  soldier  that 
the  Order  had  elected  him  gladly,  and  so 
poor  a  politician  that  being  caught  in  the 
net  of  Castilian  discontent  he  could  not 
get  free  ever.    His  sudden  rushes  are  like 
those  of  any  other  strong  creature  and 
untamed:  it  would  seem  that  he  ended  as 
he  had  begun,  fighting  in  stormy  splen- 
dours.   As  for  his  nephew,  the  Master  D. 
Gutierre,  I  know  that  in  the  Granada  war, 
long  after,  he  was  trapped  in  a  mountain 
pass  where  he  should  have  died,  but  that  a 
soldier,  born  in  those  parts,  showed  to  him 
a  secret  path  and  some  knights  got  away: 
whether  he  got  away  safe,  and  where  he 
died,  if  so,  I  have  forgotten.     The  great 
orb  of  D.  Alvaro  de  Luna  was  dropping 
now  in  stormy  decline,  and  in  the  red  light 
of  its  setting  the  chroniclers  cannot  note 
the  lesser  stars. 

1 

Epilogue: 
A  good 
knight  of 
Alcantara 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

144 


A  Chronicle 

Play: 

Part  I.  The 

fall  of  D. 

G6mez  de 

Caceres 


i\ I  ILITARY     ORDERS 


A  successor  of  his,  D.  Gomez  de  Caceres 
y  vSolis,  by  an  accident  and  a  personal 
feud  arising  thence,  was  drawn  into  the 
wars  of  King  Henry  the  Fourth's  time. 
He  had  been  the  King's  Major-domo.  Again 
the  story  is  laid  in  the  west-country:  he 
had  married  his  sister  to  a  noble  gentleman 
of  Trujillo  called  D.  Francisco  de  Hinojosa: 
the  wedding  was  at  Caceres.  There  were 
sports  and  feasting  and  knightly  exercises, 
among  these  tilting  at  a  tahlado  which  was 
placed  very  high.  The  CI  aver  o  of  Alcantara 
took  a  lance,  instead  of  the  wand  used  for 
the  sport,  and  threw  it  over  the  top  of  this, 
and  mocked  the  Master  and  the  other 
knights  as  weaklings. 

The  bridegroom  in  especial  was  piqued. 
He  called  for  the  lance-playing  (jucgo  dc 
canas)  and  challenged  the  Clavero  and  by 
ill-luck  just  missed  striking  him  twice  in 
the  face:  the  Clavero  took  a  lance  and 
struck  him  over  the  head.  Then  two  kins- 
men, the  Master's  brothers,  tried  to  kill 
the  Clavero,  and  indeed  one  hardly  wonders, 
on  this  accmnulation  of  insults:  he 
defended  himself  until  the  Master  arrived. 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

145 

Sent  off  to  the  Convent  of  Alcantara,  but 
released  after  a  few  days,  he  gathered  his 
friends   and   relatives,   took   two   castles, 
and  made  war  on  the  Master.    King  Henry 
was  well  content,  and  promised  the  Master- 
ship if  he  could  win  it.    He  took  Coria  and 
held  it  for  nine  months  on  its  hilly  promon- 
tory, then,  by  help  of  the  townsfolk,  he 
managed  to   take  Caceres,   the   Master's 
own  town.     The   Httle   war  dragged  on. 
Mosen  Diego  de  Valera  will  have  it  that 
the    Master   ill-used   Caceres,    where   the 
Clavero    had    honourable    kinsfolk:     the 
account  which  the  Order  kept,  as  we  have 
heard,  was  other.    Then  the  young  prince 
D.   Alfonso  died.     The  rebellious  nobles 
were  checked  for  an  instant,  though  it  cost 
them  little  to  put  his  sister  in  his  place. 

Monroy  the  Clavero — it  is  a  Salamanca 
name   and   of   the   west-country — hearing 
that  two  hundred  lances  of  the  Master's 
were  near  Guadelupe,  went  down  to  fight 
them:  they  flung  themselves  into  the  town 
and  he  besieged  them  there.     After  the 
surrender  he  took  their  horses  and  arms 
and  sent  them  packing,  and  the  outcome 

Against  the 
King  Don 
Alfonso  or 
Dona 
Isabel,  all 
one 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

146 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

Alvar 

G6mez  was 
a  traitor 

of  the  whole  was  ruin  for  the  dwellers  in 
the  steep,  picturesque  little  town  hanging 
on  the  mountain's  flank. 

It  was  Alvar  Gomez  of  Ciudad  Real, 
the  King's  trusted  secretary,  and  a  traitor, 
who  had  made  the  trouble  between  the 
King  and  the  Master:    "he  was  of  low 
blood,   so   that   of   his   lineage   behooves 
no  memorial,"  says   Diego  Enriquez  del 
Castillo — base-born,    base-spirited,    is   his 
meaning.    He  kept  the  two  apart,  lest  they 
should  understand  each  other  and  trust, 
until  the  King  came  down  to  give  Trujillo 
to  the  Count  of  Plasencia.    Then  they  met, 
and  the  King  forgave  all  and  gave  him  the 
cities  of  Badajoz  and  Caceres,  and  at  his 
request  and  that  of  the  Master  of  Santiago, 
gave  Coria  to  his  brother  D.  Gutierre  de 
Caceres,  and  confirmed  his  title  of  Count. 
He  did  other  favours  at  the  same  time, 
to  the  Keeper,  D.  Alonso  de  Monroy,  who 
had  been  his  loyal  servitor  unwavering. 
But  the  end  was  foreordained:    Monroy 
raised  a  rebellion  through  all  the  Order, 
and  indeed  the  Master  had  a  heavy  hand. 
The   Commanders   came   up   against  him 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN    SPAIN 


aniied,  and  if  he  had  not  got  to  cover,  and 
so  made  good  his  flight,  he  could  have  been 
taken  or  slain  assuredly:  and  Alcantara 
was  actually  taken.  The  Master  turned  to 
an  old  ally,  D.  Alonso  Carrillo,  the  rebel 
Archbishop  of  Toledo,  and  to  the  Count 
of  Alba  de  Tormes,  D.  Fernan  Alvarez  de 
Toledo,  and  raised  an  army  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred horse  and  twenty-five  hundred  foot: 
Monroy  laid  an  ambush  and  took  many, 
and  when  open  battle  was  joined,  defeated 
the  blaster  and  wounded  him  severely  in 
the  face.  The  Count  of  Coria  came  to  his 
help,  pledging  Coria  to  the  Count  of  Alba 
de  Tormes  to  get  reinforcements,  and  never 
got  his  town  back:  and  when  the  forces 
moved  the  Keeper  had  burned  all  the  bridges 
and  boats  upon  the  Tagus,  and  held  the 
fords,  so  that  they  could  not  join,  and 
Alcantara  was  besieged  for  thirteen  months. 
Thence  on — says  the  chronicler — the  Mas- 
ter of  Alcantara  was  always  in  decay, 
without  the  power  to  recover,  so  that  he 
died  not  as  Master  of  Alcantara,  but  as 
Gomez  de  Caceres,  which  he  was  when  he 
came   to   the   King's   household,   for   the 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


147 


Brother  in 
arms  as  in 
blood 


148 


The 

on-looker 
appreciates 
the  irony  ot 
events 


Part  II,  the 
Rise   and 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


sovereign  justice  of  God  is  such  that  he 
never  leaves  such  ingrates  without  punish- 
ment. So,  Uke  David,  the  good  chaplain 
comforts  himself,  in  a  world  where  he  had 
seen  the  wicked  flourishing  like  a  green 
bay  tree. 

We  may  find  some  satisfaction  ourselves 
in  knowing  that  Monroy  was  to  reap  the 
advantage  and  the  place  for  which  he  had 
planted  and  watered;  nor  could  he  be 
cut  down. 

The  Mastership  was  wanted,  indeed, 
elsewhere.  The  Duchess  Leonor  Pimentel, 
of  the  great  house  of  Benavente,  and  her 
husband,  D.  Alvaro  de  Zuniga,  the  Duke 
of  Plasencia.  wanted  the  place  for  their 
son  and  plotted  with  the  lord  of  Bel  vis, 
D.  Fernando  de  Monroy,  who  held  the 
Convent;  but  D.  Alonso  thq;  Clavero  by  a 
stratagem  seized  it,  called  a  chapter,  had 
D.  Gomez  de  Caceres  deposed  and  himself 
elected. 

He  had  been  brought  up  by  D.  Gutierre 
de  Sotomayor  who  was  his  mother's  brother, 
but  not  from  him  had  he  learned  rebellion 
and  ingratitude,  for  the  second  Sotomayor, 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

149 

as  has  appeared,  took  an  odd  sort  of  care 
of  his  uncle  even  when  supplanting  him. 
Monroy  got  himself  re-elected  when  the 
Master  died;    not  even  that  could  bring 
peace. 

One  time  he  besieged  three  castles  at 
once,  and  for  two  years  Estremadura  was 
racked    by    cruel    war.      The    Master    of 
Santiago  and  the   Countess  of   Medellin 
favoured  the  three  besieged  Wardens,  and 
so  great  was  the  evil  that  there  was  no 
safety  in  field  or  in  town,  nor  dared  the 
labourers  sow,  not  knowing  if  they  might 
reap.     D.    Francisco   de   Solis,   who   was 
holding  out  in  vengeance  for  his  uncle,  at 
the  last  offered  to  surrender,  the  terms 
being  a  fixed  sum  of  money  and  a  bastard 
daughter  of  the  Master's  to  wife.    So  the 
wedding  was  contracted .    Solis  allowed  only 
six  men,  and  those  unarmed,  to  come  in 
with  Monroy  and  his  daughter,  the  bride 
to  be:  at  supper  the  first  course  served  was 
two  heavy  fetters  of  iron,  on  silver  plat- 
ters:   and  hard  thereupon   D.   Fernando 
came  in  and  took  him.    He  said,  ''Is  this 
my  son?     Is  this  a  gentleman's  act?"  and 

Part  III. 
the  Decline 
of  D.Alonsc 
de  Monroy 

Like  spurs 
on  the 
Scotch 
border 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

150 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

His 

adventures 

the  answer  was  prompt:   "You  may  be  the 
devil's  father  but  you  will  not  be  mine." 

They  put  him  in  prison,  fettered  and 
chained:   D.  Francisco  got  himself  elected, 
and  the  question  of  Monroy's  life  was  dis- 
cussed at  length.    The  Duchess  again  asked 
for  the  Mastership  for  her  son.    The  King 
gave  her  leave  to  appeal  to  the  Pope,  and 
the  Bulls  came.    So  she  held,  in  her  young 
son's  name,  the  castle  and  town  of  Alcan- 
tara.    Meanwhile,  in  the  prison,  Monroy 
had   found,   after   six   months,   some   old 
catapult-cords,   and  of  these  he  made  a 
rope.    Then,  putting  shoes  on  his  hands  to 
protect   them   (it  would  seem  that  they 
should  have  been  alpargatas),  from  a  very 
high  window  he  slipped  down,  but  with 
the  weight  of  the  chains  he  wore  the  rope 
broke,  and  he  fell  heavily.    It  dislocated  a 
leg,  nevertheless  he  crept  on  all  fours  to  a 
lower  wall  and  got  over  that,  dragging  his 
useless  leg.     The  hill  beyond  was  thickly 
wooded,  but  he  knew  he  would  be  searched 
for  there,  and  he  hid  in  a  copse  in  the  plain, 
but  next  morning  they  found  him  and  took 
him  back.    He  lay  in  a  dungeon  ten  months 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN    SPAIN 


more.  The  end  of  the  story  is  as  romantic 
and  irrational  as  the  rest:  when  the  Catho- 
hc  Kings  came  to  the  throne  D.  Francisco 
took  their  part  and  fought  for  them  against 
the  Portuguese:  he  was  defeated,  and 
wounded,  and  his  horse  fell  on  him. 
There,  as  he  lay,  he  asked  a  foot-soldier  to 
help  him:  the  man  had  been  a  servitor  of 
D.  Alonso  de  Monroy,  and  he  killed  him 
as  he  lay. 

So  D.  Alonso  got  out,  and  collected  some 
of  his  own  men  and  some  roving  ruffians 
and  made  war  on  D.  Juan  de  Zufiiga,  and 
the  Duke  wrote  up  for  the  Duchess  who 
was  in  Arevalo,  to  come  down  and  defend 
her  son  now.  The  Dukes  of  Plasencia  were 
of  the  party  of  the  King  of  Portugal  and 
the  Excellent  Lady  Dofia  Juana:  therefore 
the  Catholic  Kings  sustained  Monroy,  and 
with  the  help  of  their  letter  he  got  some 
gentlemen  about  him,  and  campaigned 
against  the  Portuguese.  After  various  vic- 
tories the  Queen  received  and  thanked  him 
but  she  said  nothing  about  the  Mastership. 
With  his  old  adaptability  he  made  friends 
with  the  Countess  of  Medellin,  who  held 


151 


As 

interlude, 
the  tragedy 
o£D. 
Francisco 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


152 


Epilogue: 
Review  of 
the 

protagonists 
1.  Don 
Juan  de 
Sotomayor 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


2.  Don 
Gutierre  de 
Sotomayor 


Merida — though  in  truth  this  belonged  to 
the  Order  of  Santiago.  They  joined  the 
other  party,  took  plenty  of  castles,  and 
wasted  and  ravaged.  At  last,  as  is  well 
known,  Queen  Isabel  and  the  Infanta 
Beatrice  made  a  peace,  and  Monroy  got 
his  pardon  and  his  own  property  back  but 
resigned  the  title. 

It  is  tempting  to  pause  here,  like  King 
Henry's  chaplain,  and  reviewing  the  vista 
of  two  life-times  draw  a  moral  or  twain. 
The  readiest  one  is  that  the  protagonist 
always  wears  the  dress  of  a  hero,  and  how 
often  soever  the  actor  may  change,  the 
mask  and  the  voice  are  noble  always.  D. 
Juan  de  Sotomayor  had  risen  from  low 
estate,  he  had  stood  by  D.  Enrique  de 
Aragon,  who  was  Master  of  Santiago,  even 
in  rebellion  against  the  King;  and  his 
nephew,  D.  Gutierre,  who  had  a  powerful 
uncle  in  the  Comendador  of  Valencia,  was 
a  better  politician  and  supplanted  him. 
Nevertheless,  D.  Gutierre  was.  in  his  way, 
loyal  to  his  predecessor,  and  he  trained 
one  who  was  to  be  a  good  successor. 

Against  D.  Gomez  de  Caceres  y  Solis, 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


Master,  stood  D.  Alonso  de  Monroy, 
Keeper:  from  their  first  appearance  they 
were  arrayed  against  each  other,  perhaps 
by  old  hostiUty  of  bandos,  perhaps  by 
elective  antipathy.  D.  Gomez  had  been 
made  by  King  Henry,  had  left  him  and 
was  to  come  back  to  him,  like  the  Master 
of  Santiago,  D.  Juan  Pacheco.  Supplanted 
he  still  kept  his  title,  and  his  striking 
attitude:  the  figure  of  a  wronged  man 
moves  across  the  stage  in  his  person. 

Monroy  is  the  intruder,  the  sower  of 
sedition,  the  wronger,  up  to  the  last  possi- 
ble moment:  then  with  his  brief  elation 
and  cruel  downfall  he  becomes  the  sym- 
pathetic personage  in  turn.  The  one 
blameless  figtire,  D.  Francisco  de  Solis, 
gets  the  least  out  of  it:  a  striking  gesture, 
a  quick  reply,  and  a  tragic  taking-off,  no 
more. 

The  thirty-seventh  Master,  D.  Juan  de 
Zuniga.  and  Pimentel,  reckoned  his  names 
and  his  lineage  along  the  old  Silver  Road. 
He  served  with  distinction  in  the  conquest 
of  Granada.  The  Queen  Dona  Isabel 
arranged  with  some  principal  knights  of 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


153 


3.  Don 
G6mez 
de  Cdceres 


4.  Don 
Alonso  de 
Monroy 


The  deuter- 
agonist  D. 
Francisco 
de  Solis 


The  last 
Master 


154 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

The 

Queen's 

policies 

the   city   of   Plasencia   that   they   should 
withdraw  from  the  obedience  and  fealty  of 
the  Duke  D.  Alvaro— the  Master's  father 
— and  come  under  the  royal  crown:   these 
took  up  arms  and  drove  out  the  Duke's 
officers    and    besieged   the    fortress,    that 
tower  still  strong  where  white  pigeons  coo 
and  mate  in  the  sunshine  now.    The  Duke 
discreetly  gave  it  up  to  the  Kings  and  was 
called  thereafter  Duke  of  Bejar.    Next  the 
Kings    claimed   the    Mastership    when   it 
should  fall  vacant,  and  Innocent  VHI  and 
Alexander  VI  gave  Bulls  to  that  effect: 
within    two    years    thereafter    John    was 
invited  to  resign.     He  was  discreet  as  his 
father  had  been:    with  three  knights  and 
three  clerks  he  retired  to  a  convent  that 
he  built  in  Villanueva  de  la  Serena,  and 
that  was  the  end  of  the  Order.     D.  Juan 
became  later  Archbishop  of  Seville,  and  the 
Pope  made  him  a  Cardinal :  finally  he  died 
when  on  a  visit  to   Guadelupe  and   lies 
among  the  innimierable   unknown   dead, 
great   lords   and   kings   and   pilgrims,    at 
the  sanctuary  there. 

The   history   of   the   Order   began   and 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

155 

ended    in    the    west-country,    along    the 
Roman  road  that  was  called  Camino  de 
Plata,   and  the   great   feats,   the   sudden 
incidents,  the  play  of  motives  belong  all 
to  border  and  ballad  stuff. 

1 

The  Order  of  Monte  Gaudio  has  been 
mentioned  twice  already,  and  some  account 
must  now  be  indicated  of  that  strange  off- 
shoot from  Santiago  whereof  a  slip  was 
planted  in  Aragon  and  flourished  for  a 
while  only  to  be  grafted  into  the  tree  of  the 
Temple;  and  how,  from  the  overthrown 
stock  in  the  west,  a  new  branch  grew  up  and 
was  cut  down  at  last. 

One  of  the  original  ruffianly  founders 
of  the  Order  of  Santiago  (thus  the  tale 
opens)  was  a  count  of  Sarria,  Rodrigo 
Alvarez  by  name,  a  nephew,  cousin  and 
great-grandson  of  kings.  In  one  of  his 
adventures  he  had  burned  the  Church  of 
S.  Mary  at  Toral— which  I  take  to  be 
Toral  de  los  Vados  on  the  Way  of  S.  James, 

A  ballad- 
literature 
that  lacked 
its  blind 
beggars 

The  Lesser 
Orders 

Monte 
Gaudio 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

156 


Count 
Roderick 


M  ILITARY    ORDERS 


that  at  this  day  still  lacks  a  proper  house 
of  God.  His  parents  were  noble  and  pious, 
and  were  the  founders  and  patrons  of  the 
Cistercian  abbey  of  Meira  in  the  diocese  of 
Lugo,  whereof  the  present  writer  hopes  to 
give  a  good  account  next  year.  In  the 
archives  there  Yepes  had  seen  a  document 
signed  after  his  father's  death,  which  calls 
him  Count  and  also  Master  of  the  Mllicia 
of  Monte  Gaudio.  In  1170,  however,  and 
for  a  few  years  thereafter,  he  was  still  only 
a  great  lord  and  a  gallant  figure,  attendant 
on  the  King's  person  in  September  of  that 
year  at  Alba  de  Tormes:  then  his  name 
appeared  among  those  of  the  founders  of 
the  Order  of  S.  James  of  the  Sword.  In 
September  of  1172  the  King  of  Portugal 
gave  over  to  that  new  Order  the  city  of 
Abrantes  and  castle  of  Monte  Sancto  on 
the  express  condition  that  the  Comendador 
Mayor,  Count  Rodrigo,  should  hold  it  and 
none  other. 

Why  he  quit  the  Order  it  is  hard  to  guess. 
The  original  Bull  is  lost  by  which  he 
founded  a  new  one  of  his  own,  but  from  the 
confirmation  that  has  survived,  and  suc- 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

157 

ceeding  documents,  we  know  that  in  1173, 
at  some  time  between  the  7th  of  July  and 
the  24th  of  November,  before  the  Cardinal- 
legate  Jacinto,  then  probably  in  Zamora, 
he  renounced  the  habit  of  S.  James,  seeking 
a  stricter  rule.  His  own  Order  was,  like 
that  of  Calatrava,  put  under  the  Cister- 
cian Rule,  and  gathered  men  to  it  fast, 
it  would  appear,  and  gifts  also;  Padornelo, 
of  the  Pilgrims'  Road,  was  one  donation, 
and  another  Linar  de  Rey  hard  by.  There 
was  probably  an  affiliation  to  the  Abbey 
of  Moreruela,  such  as  Montesa  accepted 
to  SS.  Creus. 

Yepes  says  that  the  Order  of  Monte 
Gaudio  owned  many  villages  in  Castile, 
Catalonia  and  Valencia,  being  called  in  the 
latter  kingdoms  Mongoja;  it  had  nine 
Masters,  and  Ferdinand  the  Saint  incor- 
porated it  with  Calatrava.  The  freyles 
wore  a  red  mantle  and  a  silver  star:  some 
have  thought  that  the  Order  of  Trujillo 
proceeded  therefrom. 

The  nine  Masters  must  have  ruled  simul- 
taneously or  overlapping  at  times,  and 
indeed  it  is  a  strange  thing  how  suddenly — 

founds 

another 

order 

and 

removes 
thereafter 
to  Aragon 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

158 


Property 
over-sea, 
cf.  pp.  58. 
186. 


The 

founder' 

death 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


perhaps  when  the  King  married  a  daughter 
of  the  house  of  Lara,  and  Castile  had  the 
say  in  Leon — the  Aragonese  gifts  are  mul- 
tipUed  and  those  of  Leon  ignored.  In  1 175 
at  Saragossa  the  Count  reeeived,  among 
other  donations,  Fuentes  de  Alfambra,  and 
thereafter  a  great  number  of  frontier 
towns.  The  Bull  of  1180  mentions  gifts 
over-seas  as  well:  Teonasaba  was  ceded 
by  King  Baldwin;  el  Palmar  and  the  Tower 
of  the  Maids,  at  the  city  of  Ascalon,  these 
both  given  by  Guy  of  Ascalon;  and  in 
Lombardy  the  Bridge  of  Amallone  with 
other  holdings,  given  by  the  Marquis  of 
Monferrat  and  his  wife. 

Probably  about  1187  or  1188  Count 
Rodrigo  died:  his  body  lies  in  Alfambra. 
One  or  two  Masters  or  commissioners  ruled 
uneasily;  then,  after  a  little  while,  the 
names  are  changed:  Frey  Gasco  appears 
and  another  Italian,  Frey  Fralmo  de  Lucca, 
who,  in  1196,  was  Master.  Finally  the 
Order  was  aggregated  to  the  Temple  with 
all  its  goods,  though  certain  knights' 
names  are  missing  among  the  signatures. 
The  Hospital  of  the  Redeemer  at  Teruel 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

159 

seems  to  have  lent  a  name,  as  it  was  itself 
a  member  of  the  Order  in  those  parts ;  and 
a  long  time  thereafter  Fraga  was  still  held 
by  the  insubmissive  few,  and  the  Templars 
were  put  to  it  to  recover  what  was  theirs. 

Meanwhile  the  west  was  again  alive. 
Monfrac  or  Monfrague,  a  castle  on  the 
Tagus,  belonged  to  D.  Froila  Ramirez  and 
his  wife,  Dona  Urraca  Gonzalez.  The  King 
gave  it  to  Santiago  in  1171.  Taken  by 
the  Moors,  it  was  given  perhaps  on  recov- 
ery to  Trujillo,  and  again  in  1197  to  the 
Order  of  Monfrac  and  the  Master  of  it. 
D.  Rodrigo  Gonzalez.  In  1206  and  1210 
the  Order  was  making  exchanges  with 
other  Orders.  But  by  this  time  the  greater 
Orders  of  the  west  were  well  established ,  it 
had  no  chance  in  the  competition,  and  in 
1221  it  was,  as  already  said,  incorporated 
with  Calatrava,  apparently  by  a  fresh 
outburst  of  the  same  spirit  that  had  led 
the  first  Master  to  move  out  of  Leon  sooner 
than  submit  to  the  domination  of  his  next 
neighbours. 

The  Order  of  Trujillo  had  a  different 
temper  but  a  Jike  destin}^     Founded  in 

Fraga 

Monfrac 

V.  Ponz. 
VII,  vii, 
13-14 

Here  ends  • 
Blazquez  y 
Jimenez 

The  Order 
of  Trujillo 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

160 


The  Order 
of  S.  George 


The  source 
is  Federico 
Pastor  y 
Lluis 


172  years 
of  good 
work 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


1191,  on  the  21st  of  April,  by  Alfonso  IX, 
the  Master  being  called  D.  Gomez,  it 
suffered  an  interregnum  when  the  city  was 
lost  to  the  Moors.  In  1218  it  was  incor- 
porated with  Alcantara  and  Calatrava. 
says  the  historian,  which  can  only  be  inter- 
preted to  mean  that,  in  the  Scripture 
phrase,  "they  of  the  household  divided 
the  spoil." 


I 


The  Order  of  S.  George  of  Alfama  was 
founded  by  Peter  I  of  Aragon,  on  Septem- 
ber 24,  1201.  The  King  gave  the  Wild  of 
Alfama,  in  the  Diocese  of  Tortosa,  to 
found  a  castle  and  Order  to  hold  back  the 
Hagarenes.  The  first  Superior  was  a 
Catalan  knight,  D.  Frey  Juan  de  Alme- 
nara,  who  is  said  to  have  been  in  deacon's 
orders,  the  donation  being  to  him  and 
Martin  Vidal,  and  those  who  should  suc- 
ceed in  the  Order.  There  the  knights 
obeyed  the  Rule  of  S.  Augustine  for  a 
hundred  and  seventy-two  years  without 
pontifical     approbation,    but    they    had 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

161 

probably  the  Bishop's.  It  was  such  an 
order  as  many  another  of  those  that  sprang 
up  and  withered  away  from  Gerona  to 
Trujillo:  none  grudged  them  here  their 
Hfe  under  Augustinian  Rule,  or  their 
seat  in  the  Coll  de  Balaguer,  and  it  lived 
on  unmolested.  A  hospice  had  been  there 
from  almost  unknown  antiquity.  A  text 
of  1567  says: 

"The  sea  forever  beats  on  the  Mount  of 
Alfama:  they  built  a  castle  thereon  with 
walls  armed,  a  large  patio  or  cloister,  with 
dorter  at  the  right  and  church  at  the  left, 
with  five  windows  that  look  to  tramontana 
and  ponente,  and  three  openings  to  the 
east,  a  sacristy  and  other  offices,  like  the 
chapter-room,  the  refectory,  the  kitchen 
and  yet  more:  all  made  with  simple  arti- 
fice as  the  ruins  to-day  attest,  and  the 
ancient  walls."  They  wore  the  white 
habit  with  red  cross.  "S.  George  himself 
appeared  therein  in  these  kingdoms,  divers 
times,  favouring  the  Christians  and  killing 
the  Moors  with  his  sight  and  his  sword." 

In  1373  King  Peter  IV  got  a  Bull  from 
Gregory  XI  with  a  Rule,  and  the  King  in 

The  Castle 

Apparitions 
of  S.  George 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

162 


years  of 
prosperity 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


"While 
Jove's 
planet  rises 
yonder .  .  . 


.silent, 
over 
Africa!" 


Barcelona  knighted  the  Master.  For 
twenty-seven  years  the  Order  was  rich  and 
active  and  then  King  Martin,  in  1400,  in- 
corporated it  with  Montesa.  The  business 
was  done  in  Avignon,  by  John  XXII,  and 
Montesa  gave  up  the  black  cross  and  wore 
S.  George's.  The  Master  D.  Berenguer 
March  took  possession  of  what  goods  there 
were  in  Aragon,  \^alencia  and  Catalonia. 
Mallorca,  and  Sardinia — a  small  heritage 
it  was  except  in  honour.  Two  Priorates 
lasted  on,  S.  George  of  Alfama  and  S. 
George  of  Valencia.  There  had  been  ten 
Masters  in  all,  from  Juan  de  Almenara, 
elected  in  1202,  to  Francisco  RipoUes  who 
resigned  in  1400  but  lived  until  after  1414 
The  ruined  castle  still  shelters  two  or 
three  quaint  memories:  as  that  of  the 
May  Day  in  1608  when  the  Rector  of  the 
parish  church  of  Santiago  in  Tortosa  was 
jogging  along  on  his  mule  quietly  to  visit 
his  uncle  the  parish  priest  of  Vallfogona  de 
Reus,  and  the  pirates  seized  him  and  car- 
ried him  off.  There  in  Algiers  he  died  the 
next  year,  the  poor  Reverend  D.  Miguel 
Bons.     But  in   1650  the  Spanish  galleys 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

163 

demolished  the   castle  by  cannon-fire   to 
keep  the  French  from  taking  it. 

The  Hospice  lay  (so  far  as  this  writer 
can    make    out)    somewhat    up-hill    and 
inland  from  the  present  station  of  Hospi- 
talet.     In  1310  Queen  Blanche  of  Anjou, 
the  second  wife  of  D.  Jaime  II  the  Just, 
being    on    her    way    from    Barcelona    to 
Valencia  to  attend  the  siege  of  Almeria. 
was  struck  by  the  need  of  Christian  service 
there.    The  rocky  headlands  are  both  steep 
and  wild,   even  to  this  day,   and  before 
steam  bored  the  rocks  and  built  up  the 
mountain-flanks,   where  today  the  trains 
fleet  and  shriek  along  the  land's  edge  the 
ways    were    very    lonely.      Pilgrims    and 
travellers  had  cause  to  bless  her  name. 
She  died  not  long  after  in  Barcelona,  but 
she  made  a  provision  in  her  will  for  the 
work,  and  the  King  carried  it  on,  and  the 
Hospice  was  finished  in  lv343  by  their  son, 
the  Infant  D.  Pedro  of  Aragon,  count  of 
Ribagorza,  for  whose  sake,  and  because  of 
his  arms  over  the  door  into  the  keep,  it 
was    called    Hospitalet    del    Infante.      It 
played  a  good  part  in  the  revolution  of 

The 
Hospice 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

164 

M  ILITARY     ORDERS 

The  Order 

of  Montesa 

Kuin  of 

the 

Templars 

1640,  like  so  many  other  places  small  in 
size  but  noble  in  spirit,  along  that  indom- 
itable east  coast. 

1 

Montesa  was  a  younger  sister  though  a 
richer.  It  has  been  said  already  that  when 
the  Order  of  the  Temple  was  destroyed, 
and  the  King  of  France  and  the  Pope  in 
Avignon  laid  hand  on  the  wealth  of  it,  the 
kings  in  the  Peninsula  took  measures  to 
save  what  they  could.  Out  of  these  re- 
sources D.  Dionis  of  Portugal  created  the 
Order  of  Christ  or  of  Avis,  in  1318. 

The  Councils  of  Tarragona  and  Sala- 
manca had  declared  the  Templars  inno- 
cent, but  in  vain:  in  the  great  tenth  chap- 
ter of  his  Fifteenth  Book  Mariana  tells 
their  fate  in  Castile.  In  Aragon  the 
Templars  defended  themselves  stubbornly, 
offering  to  submit  to  a  Council  of  the  Pope 
and  the  Cardinals,  or  to  disband  and  go 
into  other  orders,  but  not  submitting  to 
be    extinguished    under    the    charge    of 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


heresy:  that  also  was  in  vain.  Mioravel 
withstood  besiegers  for  nine  months: 
Monzon  held  out  till  1309.  Yangiias  has 
a  story  of  the  Castle  of  Tudela:  the 
seneshal,  when  he  delivered  it  by  inventory, 
in  1308,  to  Hutier  de  Fontaines,  reported: 

"Two  men  to  be  arrested :  as  summoned, 
here  is  D.  Frey  Domingo  de  Exexa, 
Comendador  of  Ribaforada:  as  for  D.  Frey 
Gil  de  Burueta,  deceased,  who  is  buried  by 
the  porch  where  suits  were  heard,  I  doubt 
if  your  words  can  be  heard  there." 

Philip  the  Fair  and  Clement  V  were  both 
notoriously  greedy,  says  Villanueva,  and 
withstood  the  combined  effort  of  the  Kings 
of  Aragon,  Castile  and  Portugal.  The 
King's  secret  orders  to  his  emissary  were 
to  get  the  property  and  try  for  a  new  order: 
he  offered  for  that  "his  castle  of  Montesa, 
very  noble,  apt  and  strong,  situate  in  the 
frontier  of  the  Moors."  In  1317  John 
XXII  gave  a  Bull  to  institute  a  new  Order 
of  Knighthood  in  the  Castle  of  Montesa, 
from  knights  of  Calatrava.  The  Pope 
wrote  to  the  Master  of  Calatrava  and  the 
Abbot  of  SS.  Creus  and  under  these  the 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


165 


The  dead 
will  not 
hear 


Mariana 
and 

Villanueva 
tell  the 
bitter  truth 


166 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

D.  Garcia 
L6pez  de 
Padilla 

foundation  was  made:   the  new  order  was 
to  have  the  privileges,  graces,  prerogatives 
and  immunities  of  Calatrava  but  the  Mas- 
ter and  knights  were  to  be  distinct,   to 
reside  in  Valencia,  and  to  wear  their  crosses 
with  a  difference.    The  Abbot  of  SS.  Creus 
was  to  name  the  first  Master  from  the 
Order    of    Calatrava.      Supervisors    of    a 
sort,  partly  protective — for  they  were  to 
see  that  the  Knights  of  S.  John  did  not 
molest — were  the  Bishop  of  Tortosa,  the 
Abbot  of  Valdigna  and  the   Casiscol  of 
Gerona. 

The  Master  of  Calatrava  was  not  enthu- 
siastic   perhaps,    certainly    not    prompt: 
the  King  was  impatient  and  the  Pope  wrote 
to  the  Bishop  of  Valencia  that  he  must 
be  made  to  come  down  and  proceed.    He 
did  not,  but  he  empowered  the  Comendador 
of  Alcaiiiz.    The  ceremony  was  in  the  Royal 
Palace  at   Barcelona,   on  July   22,    1319, 
being  present  the  Comendador  Mayor  D. 
Frey  Gonzalo  Gomez,  the  Abbots  of  SS. 
Creus,  Benifaza  and  Valdigna,  the  Mili- 
tary Knights  of  the  Order  of  S.   John, 
S.   George  and  the  Merced,   and  many 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

167 

secular   knights.      Mass  was   said   in  the 
slender  Gothic  chapel  of  S.  Agueda,  under 
the  delicate  painted  roof,  and  the  habit 
was  given  there  to  D.  Guillen  de  Eril,  D. 
Garceran  de  Billera,  D.  Erman  de  Eroles, 
all  formerly  knights  of  S.  John.    When  the 
habit  had  been  given  they  were  further 
professed  and  finally  license  given  to  D. 
Guillen  to  admit  others.     He  was  an  old 
knight,  a  mirror  of  virtues  and  military 
experience,    norm    of    all    those    of    his 
time  and  inferior  to  none  in  nobility.    So 
the  King  presented  eight  knights  to  him 
for  admission,  among  them  two  of  his  own 
brothers,  and  made  over  Montesa,  castle 
and  surroundings.     He  set  out  to  take 
possession,  fell  ill,  and  died  at  Peiiiscola. 
There  are  signs  here  that  the  Hospital 
and  Calatrava  were  played  off  against  each 
other  at  the  foundation.     The  old  Master 
was  probably  chosen  as  unlikely  to  live 
too  long.    Ten  Knights  of  Calatrava  were 
ready  to  take  charge  till  another  could  be 
elected,  but  the  King,  not  much  disposed 
towards  this,  and  sending  down  two  monks 
from  SS.   Creus,   asked  leave  to  appoint 

The 
beginning 

So  a 
memory 
can  smell 
sweet  and 
blossom  in 
dust 

Intrigue 
and  policy 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

168 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

Calatrava 
intended  to 
rule 

the  new  Master:    he  was  refused.     Inci- 
dentally,  the  townsfolk  of  Montesa  dis- 
liked the  transfer.     The  Master  of  Cala- 
trava at  this  time  was  D.  Garci  Lopez  de 
Padilla,   who  enforced  the  claims  of  his 
Order  to  visit  and  command  in  Alcantara, 
and  certainly  he  intended  to  maintain  as 
much,  and  reached  out  as  long  an  arm,  in 
the  east  as  in  the  west.     Ultimately  the 
whole  proceeding  of  Calatrava  was  repeated 
da  capo:   but  the  Abbot  of  SS.  Creus  got 
in  his  appointee,  D.  Frey  Arnaldo  de  Soler, 
who  took  possession  on  March  21,   1319. 
The  Order,  however,  claimed  in  the  King- 
dom of  Valencia  to  be  subjected  imme- 
diately to  the  Cistercian  Chapter-General, 
without  any  other  jurisdiction.     On  the 
other  hand,  no  Rule  was  given  in  the  foun- 
dation, on  the  ground  that  it  was  not  a 
new  Order.      It  lived  under  the  Rule  of 
S.  Benedict,  with  the  three  statutes  that 
Citeaux  had  given  to  Calatrava,  and  the 
Definitions  that  in  1283  and  1304  the  Abbot 
of   Morimundo   had   formulated:    but   in 
1326  the  "Master  of  Calatrava  of  Castile" 
visted  Montesa  and  gave  Definitions. 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


By  the  Rule  as  adapted  the  knights  could 
eat  meat  on  Tuesdays,  Thursdays  and 
Sundays;  they  fasted  on  Mondays,  Wed- 
nesdays and  Fridays  from  Holy  Cross  Day 
to  Easter,  excepting  Candlemas,  Christ- 
mas and  Epiphany,  All  Saints,  and  any 
Apostle's  day.  Julius  II  commuted  this 
on  condition  of  their  giving  a  meal  one  day 
a  year  to  twelve  poor  persons.  Fast-days, 
they  had  bread  and  wine,  which  is  what 
the  Tuscan  or  the  Spanish  peasant  still 
eats,  and  labours  in  the  strength  thereof 
They  slept  in  one  dormitory,  not  in  sepa- 
rate cells. 

In  the  early  years,  their  hair  was  cut 
and  their  faces  shaven:  they  wore  white 
cloaks  abroad  except  in  stormy  weather, 
and  then  the  covering  might  be  of  any 
honest  colour.  Under  Philip  II.  iri  ^^^^  [thp 
the  Mastership  was  incorporated  in  the 
Crown  ot  Aragon.  ~ 

Great  figures  there  were,  however,  in 
the  Order,  and  among  the  foremost  of 
them  that  Luis  Despuig  long  resident  in 
the  Kingdom  of  Naples  and  high  in  the 
esteem  of  Alfonso  the  Magnanimous,  who 


169 


The  Rule 


for 

refectory 
and  dorter 


AND  MONOGRAPHS 


ending 


D.  Luis 
Despuig 


170 


The  Order 
of  the  Jar 


M  ILITARY     ORDERS 


So,  that 
lieutenant 
general 
D.  Jayne 
Juan  Falco 


sent  him  somewhere  on  business  with  the 
Castellan  of  the  Castle  of  S.  Angelo  on 
December  7,  1441.  Again  he  wrote  back 
a  report  from  home  that  arrived  from 
Valencia  on  the  first  of  June,  1452;  and 
in  September  of  1455  the  King  bestowed  on 
him  the  collar  of  the  Jarro,  adorned  with 
the  device  of  Our  Lady  and  "30  giaretti  e 
30  tronchi."  Here — and  it  is  the  only 
time — the  erudite  Italian  who  thirty  years 
or  more  ago  published  quaint  extracts  from 
the  accounts  of  the  Neapolitan  Realm, 
transcribed  correctly  the  good  rough 
Catalan  name.  That  same  Order  of  the 
Jar  herein  referred  to  (the  Jar  itself  being 
the  Lily-pot  of  our  Lady's  Annunciation 
with  its  three  branching  lilies)  was  a  pretty 
toy,  and  the  goldsmiths  in  Naples  made 
many  a  dainty  piece  with  a  pendant 
griffin  and  enamels  and  gems  thick  all 
about,  but  it  is  a  decoration  rather  than 
a  brotherhood,  and  a  courtly  rather  than 
a  military  order.  As  here  appears,  a  man 
might  wear  it  and  still  be  the  Keeper  of 
Montesa  and  call  himself  Frey  Luis  Despuig. 
The  historians  of  the  Order  are  not  con- 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

171 

cerned,  like  Caro  de  Torres,  or  like  Rades 
y  Andrada  when  he  writes   alone,   with 
hazanas,  great  men  and  great  deeds,  adven- 
tures and  personalities,  but  for  the  most 
part  with  dignities  and  privileges.     For 
instance : 

The  Master  of  Montesa  is  spouse  of  his 
church,  and  when  he  dies  she  calls  herself 
a  widow:   he  cannot  be  excommunicated: 
he  has  no  superior  but  the  General  of  the 
Cistercian  Order:  he  is  inferior  in  order  to 
the   priests   but   superior  in  jurisdiction: 
and  the  Hke.     This  is  partly  due  to  the 
later  date  of  many  of  the  histories — there 
is  a  century's  difference  or  more — partly 
to  the  later  foundation  of  the  Order.     How 
should  these  supple  levantine  courtiers  be 
mindful  of  the  great  traditions,  or  measure 
the  great  standards,  as  when  Spain  and 
all  Europe  were  at  stake?    The  difference 
is  curious  notwithstanding:  it  is  a  measure 
of    the    isolation,    and    the    integrity,    of 
Castile. 

1 

whom 
Philip  II 
called  "the 
most 
learned 
man  in  my 
realm." 

Dignities 

Levantine 

not 

Castilian 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

172 


The  Order 

of  Santiago 


The  two  at 
heart  unlike 


Alfonso 

VII. 

1126-1157 


A  very 
ancient 
brother- 
hood 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


The  history  of  the  two  great  Orders  of 
Calatrava  and  Santiago  is  inextricably 
intertwined,  and  like  twin  stars  you 
measure  their  rising  and  their  setting 
together.  Beginning  now  with  the  Order 
and  Knighthood  of  S.  James  of  the  Sword, 
which  was  organized  under  D.  Pedro 
Fernandez  of  Fuentencalada  in  1170. 
and  sanctioned  by  a  Bull  of  Alexander  III 
in  1175,  it  appears  in  all  books  of  history 
undistinguishable  from  the  other  except 
by  name  and  badge  and  details  of  the  Rule. 
Notwithstanding  the  difference  is  funda- 
mental and  very  profound.  The  traditions 
of  the  Order  look  back  to  an  earlier  date. 
A  confraternity  of  S.  James  at  Leon  claim- 
ed the  recognition  of  S.  Isidore  at  the 
camp  before  Baeza  in  the  time  of  Alfonso 
the  Emperor,  and  for  this  Luke  of  Tuy 
vouches.  "Instituted  in  the  kingdom  of 
Leon  or  Galicia  about  1170,"  says  Rades  y 
Andrada,  "but  many  years  before  there 
was  a  Brotherhood  of  Knights  of  S.  James 
without  form  of  Religion,"  At  the  very 
mention  of  this  confraternity,  historians 
become   uneasy:    it   seems   possible   that 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


/ 


IN     SPAIN 

173 

something  real  and  not  perhaps  to  be 
blushed  for  as  homely  or  bourgeois  lies  in 
the  dim  backward  of  time,  earlier  in  the 
twelfth  century. 

The  official  account  may  be  examined 
first. 

Where  the  Way  of  S.  James  runs  through 
Leon,  it  crosses  the  river  Esla.  From  time 
immemorial  there  has. been  a  bridge  there, 
and  before  the  bridge  and  beside  it  a  ford, 
and  for  the  up-keep  and  care  of  this  a 
hermitage  with  a  chapel.  A  hospice  grew 
up:  a  building,  that  is,  was  erected  where 
any  pilgrim  might  sleep  and  the  sick  stay 
"till  they  were  well  or  dead" — as  in  the 
Hospital  del  Rey  in  a  similar  situation  at 
Burgos.  Money  was  found,  chiefly  in  the 
form  of  rents  charged  on  real  estate,  to 
feed  the  lodgers  and  the  attendants  and 
give  a  bowl  of  broth  and  a  piece  of  bread 
to  any  one  who  passed,  hungry  and  on  the 
tramp.  I  think  a  mediaeval  institution  of 
this  sort  might  never  refuse  a  dole,  when 
asked,  lest  it  should  be  found  to  have 
refused  the  Lord.  If  not  an  unmixed  good 
(what  institution  is  that?)   it  had  great 

Under  the 
passing 
stars,  foam 
of  the  sky 

The 

Hospital   of 
S.  Marcos 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

174 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

Practical 

advantages 

Mutual 
service  a 
commodity 
in  the 
market 

The  gulf 

advantages:    men  travelling  in  search  of 
work,  or  on  other  secular  business,  would 
not  be  frozen  to  death  or  exhausted  by 
starvation,  who  could  scarcely  have  car- 
ried the  price  of  their  hotel  bills  at  a  time 
when  money  was  scarce  and  much  of  the 
exchange  of  the  world  was  carried  on  in 
other   commodities.      The   brothers   knew 
how  to  protect  their  institution  and  con- 
serve their  resources,   getting  retvirns   in 
kind,  or  labour,  or  other  service,  or  in  that 
care  for  the  humanity  that  needed  it  which 
the  Middle  Age  recognized  as  a  good  like 
any  other  goods.     And  indeed  there  was 
probably  less  deliberate  graft  in  any  one 
century  in  Spain  (for  instance)  from  the 
ninth  to  the  fifteenth  inclusive,  than  in 
enterprises   which   governments   paid   for 
between  1914  and  1919.    Between  the  last 
pilgrim's    hospice    and    the    first    penny 
night-refuge   yawns   a   gulf   of   centuries: 
a   black   gulf   that   pride   cannot   bridge; 
therein  lie  the  Protestant  Reformation  and 
the  Council  of  Trent  and  the  Industrial 
Revolution. 

It  rested  with  those  in  charge,  as  I  have 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


said,  that  due  return  should  be  made  by 
those  who  could  afford  it,  and  that  what 
was  given  for  use  should  not  be  spent  on 
sloth  or  luxury:  and  the  Master  of  the 
Hospice  at  Leon  was  a  Canon  of  the  Rule 
of  S.  Loy.  So  the  old  documents  state. 
No  one  seems  to  know  much  about  such 
an  order:  the  name,  however,  comes  from 
that  Bishop  of  Noyon  and  minister  of  the 
good  King  Dagobert,  S.  Eligius,  who  was 
also  a  goldsmith  and  a  blacksmith.  Besides 
making  an  espousal  ring  for  S.  Godeberte, 
he  once  shod  a  demon  horse,  as  Nanno  de 
Banco  depicted  in  a  niche  at  Or  San 
Michele:  in  short,  the  enchanted  w^hite 
horse  of  S.  James  is  somehow  in  the  story 
or  accountable  for  the  association. 

The  Prologue  to  the  Rule  of  the  Order 
says:  That  all  the  Kings  of  Spain  were  at 
war  together,  that  Moors  innumerable  had 
passed  the  sea,  and  that  thirteen  knights  set 
the  cross  on  their  breast  in  the  likeness  of  a 
sword,  with  the  badge  of  the  invocation 
of  the  Blessed  Apostle  S.  James,  and  or- 
dained that  they  would  fight  no  Christians 
nor  hurt  their  goods;   and  they  renounced 


175 


The  Order 

of  S.  Loy 


The  official 
account 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


176 


A 

Scriptural 

standard 


\y 


Helpers  and 
harbourers 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


and  gave  up  honours  and  worldly  pomp, 
rich  clothes,  and  long  hair;  and  covenanted 
to  abstain  from  what  Scripture  forbade 
and  to  keep  only  what  Scripture  allowed. 
Really,  this  is,  already,  quite  unhke  the 
foundation  of  Calatrava.  The  knights,  we 
are  told  elsewhere,  swore  to  live  in  obe- 
dience to  a  superior,  to  keep  poverty  of 
spirit  and  conjugal  chastity.  There  is  a 
curious  but  persistent  tradition  that  the 
original  thirteen  were  reformed  highway- 
men, who  bound  themselves  by  oath  to 
protect  and  guide  travellers  along  the 
Way  and  submitted  and  allied  themselves 
to  the  Canons  of  S.  Loy  with  this  intent. 
The  knights  must  be  poor  and  humble, 
without  personal  property,  and  the  com- 
munity would  give  to  them  what  they 
needed  in  sickness  and  health,  and  like- 
wise to  their  wives  and  children.  The  clerks 
were  to  take  charge  of  the  education  of  the 
children,  besides  other  duties.  This  is  the 
account  of  La  Fuente,  writing  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  with  elder  historians  before 
him.  He  mentions  casually,  elsewhere, 
that  by  the  original  Rule  any  knight  who 


/' 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN    SPAIN 

177 

hiciese    alarde    de    noblesa,    who    boasted 
of  nobility,  did  public  penance  in  the  refec- 
tory. 

1 

This  is  a  strange  story:    who  are  these 
strange   brethren   that   live   together   like 
primitive    Christians    in    community    of 
goods  and  perfect  brotherhood,  sharing  all, 
injuring  none,   aiding  the  helpless,  meek 
and  lowly  of  heart?     From  time  to  time 
some  people  have  been  like  that,  and  have 
called    themselves    the    friends    of    God: 
in  Milan  in  the  eleventh  century,  in  France 
in  the  twelfth,  in  south   Germany  in  the 
fifteenth.    There  were  some  in  Umbria  in 
the  twelfth  century,  led  by  a  certain  Fran- 
cis:   there  were  some  in    Galicia  in  the 
fourth,  adherents  of  a  Bishop  Priscillian. 
They   were   never   much    liked   by   other 
people,  and  were  extirpated  now  by  sword 
and  now  by  flame;    nor  did  the  authori- 
ties call  them  friends  of  God,  but  heretics 
generally,    and    in   special    cases    (in   the 
eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries)    by  such 

Humility 
essential 

Friends  of 
God 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

178 


Luke  of 
Tuy  yields 
evidence  on 
cross-exam- 
ination 


)i  begin- 
nings 
amidst 
religious 
mysticism 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


names  as  Patarins,  Catharists,  and  Albi- 
genses.  It  is  not  impossible  that  the  Order 
of  S.  James,  like  some  other  pacifists, 
barely  escaped  extermination  by  going  into 
the  army. 

There  seems,  upon  examination,  a  fair 
amount  of  evidence.  Luke  of  Tuy  when 
he  lived  at  Leon  was  a  fine  hunter-out  of 
Albigenses,  and  had  his  hands  full:  the 
whole  twenty-third  volume  of  Espana 
Sagrada,  which  deals  with  the  early  history 
of  the  diocese,  is  full  of  Albigenses:  some 
are  shepherds  from  the  hills;  some  are  clerks 
in  orders,  of  the  city;  they  work  miracles 
of  their  own.  Europe  in  these  centuries 
was  full  of  this  sort  of  feeling :  on  a  map  of 
France  in  the  twelfth  century  you  could 
spot  such  springs  bursting  up  all  over  the 
realm.  How  much  of  the  Priscillian  tem- 
per had  lasted  or  what  like  manifestations 
follow^ed  I  cannot  say,  for  I  have  not  access 
to  the  long-out-of-print  original  Historia  de 
I  OS  Heterodoxes  en  Espana,  but  I  know 
that  Rades  y  Andrada  has  a  vague  cer- 
tainty that  the  beginnings  of  the  Order  of 
Santiago  were  somewhere  in  Galicia.    And 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

179 

however  palpable  a  forgery  may  be  the 
charter  of  the  Comendadoras  del  Santo 
Spirito  in  Salamanca,  he  insists  that  a 
document  of  1120  shows  the  Order  in  Leon, 
and  another  record  of  about  the  same  time 
preserves  the  memory  of  a  dispute  with 
the  Canons  of  S.  Isidore  about  precedence 
in  processions.    This  last  we  feel  credible. 

The  habit  in  the  early  days  was  a  red 
cloak,  of  cloth  or  silk,  with  the  cross  and  a 
cockle-shell  thereon:  the  banner  of  the 
Order  bore  a  red  cross  like  that  of  Calatrava 
with  five  cockleshells  for  a  difference.  The 
thirteen — los  trezes — whose  function  was 
advisory  to  the  Master,  and  who  came  to 
constitute  a  sort  of  Elder  Statesmen — 
wore  for  the  Chapters-General  a  black 
cassock  and  biretta  like  Canons  Regular. 
Besides  these  there  were  two  Priors,  one  at 
Ucles  and  one  at  Leon,  that  both  used  the 
mitre,  the  crozier,  and  other  episcopal 
insignia  by  Papal  permission:  a  Comenda- 
dor  Mayor  of  Leon  and  another  of  Castile. 

From  this  it  appears  that  the  difficulty 
which  beset  the  Master  of  Calatrava,  who 
ruled  houses  in  Castile  and  Aragon,  was 

In  Leon 
1120 

brotherhood 
marched  in 
processions 

The 
constitution 

I- 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

180 


Called 
Order  of 
Ucl6s  at 
times     ; 


and  of  y 
Cdceres 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


nothing  to  that  of  the  Master  of  Santiago, 
since  here  the  lesser  branch  was  also  the 
elder,  and  abated  no  rights.  Actually,  the 
Order  was  called  "of  Ucles"  often  enough 
and  the  First  Chronicle  General,  that  tells 
in  one  chapter  How  the  Masters  of  Cala- 
trava  and  of  Alcantara  and  of  Alcaniz 
conquered  the  Moors,  relates  on  the  next 
page  Another  good  adventure  of  the  Master 
of  the  Order  of  Ucles  and  his  Brethren. 
Verbalists  that  we  are,  we  would  tie  up 
the  past  as  hard  and  fast  as  ourselves 
in  formulae  and  phrases,  but  there  was 
a  kind  of  liberty  of  spirit  while  men 
thought  still  in  images  and  emotions. 
When  D.  Pedro  Fernandez  de  Fuenten- 
calada  had  not  yet  been  to  Rome  about 
the  Bull,  he  went  down  with  his  knights  to 
Caceres  in  guerilla  warfare,  raided,  burned 
and  robbed,  and  got  back  safe  to  Coria; 
then  helped  the  King  and  others  to  take 
Caceres,  and  received  it  as  a  gift  for  the 
new  Order,  and  put  a  convent  there.  So 
they  were  called  Freyles  de  Caceres,  and 
helped  the  King  at  Badajoz,  and  many 
towns  were  given  to  be  lost  again.     The 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


King  of  Castile  gave  them  a  castle  on  the 
Tagus  near  Fuentedeuna,  and  then  shortly 
after,  Ucl6s,  six  leagues  nearer  to  the  Moors. 
This  was  in  1174.  The  next  year  the 
Master  crossed  the  sea  with  some  freyles, 
and  secured  the  Bull,  having  evidently 
stipulated  the  terms.  "Like  all  the  com- 
pany of  the  faithful,  they  are  divided  into 
married  and  single,"  it  says:  and  this 
indeed  must  have  been  always  a  factor  in 
the  spiritual  life  of  the  Order,  that  a  gentle- 
man could  live  normally,  like  those  in  the 
world  about  him,  and  yet  keep  his  vows. 
The  Chapter-General  is  held  at  All  Saints' 
when  the  season  of  raids  and  expeditions 
is  over,  and  indeed  All  Saints'  is  a  fit  day 
for  Santiago  as  Lord  of  the  Dead.  Where 
a  parish  church  exists,  bishops  are  not  to 
be  defrauded  of  their  rights,  but  in  desert 
places  and  these  newly  recovered,  if  they 
build  churches,  the  bishops  are  not  to 
meddle,  or  to  exact  tithes.  None  of  the 
Order  may  be  excommunicated  except  by 
a  Papal  Legate. 


I 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


181 


The 

sanctity  of 
married  lift 


/ 


182 


Ucl6s 


The 

gateway  of 
the  hills 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


Like  the  other  great  seats  and  strong- 
holds of  the  Orders,  Ucles  is  reared  upon  a 
grand  site.  The  castle  tops  a  low  hill-crest, 
looking  over  the  wide  brown  plain  to  the 
mountains  that  encompass  the  Castilian 
upland,  straight  towards  where,  unsleep- 
ing, like  a  chained  lioness,  Cuenca  still 
couches  in  the  gateway  of  the  hills.  Of  the 
castle  two  brown  towers  and  a  curtain  wall 
rise  against  the  twilight  sky  from  far, 
and  battlements  and  ruins  break  the  clear 
light,  and  two  or  three  enclosed  chambers 
yet  stand  that  have  been  cloven  or  nibbled 
away  here  and  there,  and  have  harboured 
a  few  sheep  in  the  wilderness.  Just  below, 
the  huge  cold  mass  of  the  sixteenth- 
century  convent  and  church  spread  out 
four-square  like  a  grimmer  and  lonelier 
Escorial:  the  road  winds  and  turns,  com- 
ing up  from  below,  beneath  its  grey 
monotonous  flanks;  and  before  the  huge 
portal,  with  flanking  towers,  pediment  and 
buttresses,  lies  only  a  narrow  parvis  on 
top  of  enormous  substructures.  All  day  I 
had  been  travelling  towards  it,  first  in  a 
train,  then  through  a  town  in  fiesta,  lastly 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

183 

for  five  leagues  or  more  in  the  slow-moving 
carrier's    cart    over    moors    and    between 
vineyards.     From  afar  we  had  seen  the 
landmark  that  defined  itself  more  clearly 
as  each  successive  eminence  was  topped, 
and  the  gentle  folk  my  fellow-travellers 
had  left  their  own  discourse  to  question  a 
little   about   my  land.     *'Ah,   America!" 
said  the  old  woman,  *'silk,  and  panuelos 
de  Manilla^':  it  was  for  them  the  place  of 
dreams.     The  civil  lad,  who  was  a  Singer 
Sewing  Machine  agent,  asked  me  to  state 
to  the  company  whether  he  lied  in  affirming 
that  his  house  in  New  York  occupied  a 
building  fully  twenty-two  stories  high :  and 
I  confirmed  him,  upon  my  word  of  honour: 
then    the    conversation    turned    to    what 
seemed  to  them  far  more  credible,  an  aerial 
railway — and  the  present  writer  endeav- 
oured earnestly  to   explain  how  it  looked 
and  functioned.  As  the  castle  loomed  again 
in  warm  colour,  now,   above  the  white- 
washed houses  huddling  up  from  the  river- 
bank,  the  death  of  the  Prince  D.  Sancho 
was  spoken  of,  and  the  immortal  glory  of 
the   Knights   of   S.    James.     The   Singer 

Talk  on  a 
journey 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

184 


Remem- 
bered glory 
of  Spain 


Meditation 
in  twilight 


The 
mystery 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


Sewing  Machine  agent  pointed  from  under 
the  hood  of  the  cart,  to  sum  up :  "Ruin  and 
poverty  and  great  memories — that  is 
Spain!"  said  he.  I  did  not  leave  the  sad 
word  undisputed. 

At  eventide  I  was  sitting  on  the  short 
brown  turf  under  the  sun-warmed  wall  of 
the  castle,  and  looking  out  over  the  plain 
in  the  darkening  rose-coloured  twilight, 
where  the  sky  was  streaked  with  pinkish 
brown  and  the  endless  earth  lay  before 
me,  a  brownish -pink  like  antique  tarnished 
gold-work.  It  was  like  looking  at  some 
ancient  Chinese  painting,  embrowned  by 
the  dusky  centuries,  fraught  with  the  deep 
and  untroubled  wisdom  of  the  timeless 
past.  The  warmed  and  windless  air,  the 
dusty  rose  of  the  ineffable  distances,  were 
elder  even  than  the  glorious  past  I  had 
travelled  so  far  and  so  painfully  to  evoke. 
They  could  appease.  The  Spanish  land- 
scape, with  its  strange  colourings,  its 
mysterious  and  unaccustomed  contours,  its 
imperishable  memories  of  a  long-lived  race, 
often  hapless  but  never  ignoble,  has,  I 
am  disposed  to  believe,  the  same  power  as 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

185 

the  landscape  of  the  age  of  Sung,  to  stir 
the  spirit,  and  woo  it  and  lead  it  away. 
Partly  this  may  be  due  to  the  accumulated 
associations,   by  which   a  wayside   stone, 
a  mountain   valley,   and   the   half-mined 
tower  of  a  parish  church,  can  testify  of 
ancestral  virtues  or  poetic  utterance  not 
to  be  forgotten  by  men.     Partly,  however, 
as  I  think,  it  is  due  to  the  palpable  and 
visible  beauty  of  the  land  itself,  that  actual 
and  respirable  loveliness  which  is  like  the 
skin  and  hair  of  a  beautiful  woman,  the  sheer 
painting  in  the  picture,  the  contours  and 
shadows  and  patina  in  the  statuary's  art. 
The  distances,  the  altitudes,  the  colourings, 
the  drift  of  light  and  movement  of  cloud  in 
Spanish   landscape,    are   present   to   con- 
sciousness like  the  modulations  of  sound 
and    enhancements    of    concrete    imagery 
that  it  lays  hold  of  in  some  great  poetry, 
and  this  I  think  is  a  part  of  the  power  of 
Sung  landscape  also:   the  conception  that 
constantly  strives  to  penetrate  beyond  the 
presentation,  and  the  immediate  power  of 
line  and  tone  that  will  not  let  it  escape. 

and  the 
magic  of 
Spanish 
landscape 

The 

sensuous 
and  the 
significant 
in  beauty 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

186 


Castles  in 
the  Holy 
Land 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


turning    it    back    upon    the    pure    bodily 
apprehension  and  delight. 


I 


In  1176  the  Master  and  knights  were 
helping  Alfonso  IX  against  the  King  of 
Navarre  who  had  seized  Navarrete,  Lo- 
grono  and  other  places  that  made  up  the 
old  Kingdom  of  Najera:  the  Moors  raided 
Ucles  and  the  King  collected  to  help  this 
Order,  Templars  and  those  of  Calatrava, 
and  they  took  Cuenca  and  on  the  way 
home  recovered  Ucles,  Thence  the  Master 
went  on  to  the  Holy  Land,  perhaps  to 
found  a  convent  there:  at  any  rate  Bohe- 
mond  of  Antioch  gave  him  certain  castles. 
The  Order  of  Calatrava  still  held  the  royal 
titles  to  Ucles,  and  now  the  Master  was 
able  to  acquire  these  in  exchange  for  the 
city  of  Alcobella.  He  died  in  that  year 
and  was  buried  in  S.  Marcos :  I  have  quoted 
his  epitaph  in  The  Way  of  S.  James.  Two 
Masters  were  elected,  but  D.  Frey  Sancho 
Fernandez    of    Lemos,    elected    to    Leon, 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


The  Hospital  of  San  Marcos 


IN     SPAIN 

187 

after  two  years  resigned:   he  was  a  priest 
and  the  King  gave  him  the  monastery  of 
S.  Audito  in  the  Buytrago  hills,  and  Fer- 
nandez   Diaz   of   Avila   ruled   the   whole 
Order  alone.     Under  him  was  founded  the 
Hospital  of  Santiago  de  los  Caballeros  in 
Toledo;   and  other  hospitals  in  Avila  and 
Talavera;    likewise  a  convent  of  nuns,  S. 
Euphemia  de  Cozollos,  which  received  also 
the  wives  of  knights  who  elected  to  live 
celibate;    this  Ferdinand  and  Isabel  re- 
moved to  S.  Fe  in  Toledo,  where  tourists 
may  still  remark  the  Cross  of  the  Order. 
Two  years  later  the  hospital  in  Cuenca 
was   founded   and  well   dowered  by   Tel 
Perez  de  Meneses,  and  D.  Pedro  Gutierrez; 
likewise    another    in    Alarcon;     and    the 
same  Tel  Perez,  lord  of  Meneses,  founded 
the  hospital  in  Villamartin  near  Carrion. 
The  Order  still  accepted  its  original  obli- 
gation of  the  Works  of  Mercy  and  caring 
for  those  along  the  Road:    it  kept  too 
its    western   affiliation   and   received   the 
gift    of   certain   heritages    in    Noya,    on 
the  blue  tidal  estuary  of  the  Atlantic  shore. 
When  Castile  and  Leon  went  to  war,  there 

Men  called 
it  S.  Tuy 

Hospitals 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

188 


At  the 
Battle  of 
Las  Navas 
and  after 


Alfonso  IX, 
with  all  his 
mournful 
pride 


MILITARY    ORDERS 


were  two  Masters  again,  and  Ucles  being 
left  nearly  empty,  the  Moors  captured  it. 
King  Alfonso  IX  meanwhile  cleared  his 
kingdom  of  Castilians  and  seized  castles. 
In  1213,  however,  at  the  time  of  the  joint 
expedition  which  the  Toledan  Annalist 
records,  when  Templars,  Calatrava  and 
Santiago  all  were  mustered,  D.  Nuno  de 
Andrada  rode  with  him  as  lieutenant  of 
the  Master,  and  all  those  who  were  natives 
of  Galicia  or  Leon  or  held  encomiendas 
there.  They  helped  in  taking  Alcantara 
and  Montanches,  and  recovered  Caceres. 
It  was  already  theirs,  given  in  1170,  but 
the  King  would  not  recognize  the  original 
donation  and  they  carried  the  case  to 
Rome,  and  could  not  hold  it.  Through- 
out the  thirteenth  century,  however,  they 
owned  Merida. 

Alfonso  IX  had  a  lofty  spirit,  though  he 
lived  under  an  evil  star,  and  Luke  of  Tuy 
learned  to  love  him  well;  when  he  went  to 
war  with  Castile  over  the  guardianship  of 
his  young  son,  who  was  to  live  to  be 
Ferdinand  the  Saint,  and  the  knights  in 
Leon  elected  a  Leonese   Master,  then  he 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


saw  the  wrong  therein  and  sent  them  back 
to  their  obedience.  He  bound  them,  how- 
ever, to  support  his  daughters'  claim  to  the 
Kingdom  of  Leon  when  he  should  be  dead, 
and  loyally  they  tried  but  could  only 
secure  a  better  compromise  with  Castile 
for  the  poor  ladies,  and  found  themselves 
bereft  of  castles  of  their  own  in  consequence. 


I 


S.  James  now,  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
was  the  protector  of  travellers  and  the 
guardian  of  souls,  as  well  as  the  warrior. 
All  the  functions  that  he  fulfilled  in  his 
own  land  of  Galicia  may  be  perceived, 
though  less  clearly,  wherever  his  Order 
appeared. 

The  Master  of  Santiago  had  been  stand- 
ard bearer  at  Las  Navas.  In  1224  discord 
broke  out  between  the  knights  and  the 
clerks  in  the  Order,  the  latter  claiming  a 
tithe  of  all  booty  the  former  brought  in: 
and  when  the  Masters  and  knights  out- 
rageously   ejected    the    Prior    and    clerks 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


189 


S.  James  as 
wayfarer 
and  psycho- 
pompos 


190 


The  Pax  of 
Ucles  is  the 
frontispiece 
here 


Apparitions 
in  the 
Americas 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


from  Ucles,  having  taken  all  their  goods, 
these  in  retaliation  carried  off  with  them 
all  the  plate  from  the  sacristy.  How  much 
and  how  splendid  will  have  been  that  gold 
and  silver  work,  those  chahces  and  paxes, 
patens  and  portable  altars,  it  is  hard  to 
imagine,  but  one  piece  we  may  be  sure 
was  there,  a  Byzantine  slab  of  dark  ser- 
pentine carved  in  the  tenth  century  with  the 
Harrowing  of  Hell.  S.  James  was  the 
Conductor  of  Souls,  and  this  piece  had  a 
special  significance:  it  was  superbly  reset 
as  a  pax  in  1565  by  Cristobal  Becerril,  and 
bears  the  hall-mark  of  Cuenca.  Now  pre- 
served in  Ciudad  Real,  it  had  come  back 
to  Ucles  when  a  Papal  commission  of  three 
Spanish  bishops  had  adjusted  the  relations 
of  lay  and  clerical  there,  the  first  clause  of 
the  arrangement  providing  that  every  one 
should  forgive  every  one  else  and  bear  no 
grudges. 

Santiago  was  still  their  leader,  and  awake. 
At  the  battle  of  Jerez  de  la  Frontera  S. 
James  and  his  white  horse  were  seen  by 
Moors  and  Christians.  But  indeed  he  was 
seen    in    the    Americas,    in    battle,    also. 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

191 

though  honest  Bernal  Diaz  stoutly  main- 
tained the  horse  was  grey  and  the  rider 
much  Hke  any  one  else,  and  indeed  a  man 
whom  he  knew.    At  the  battle  of  Salada 
in  1340,  he  was  seen  in  Hke  manner  and 
recognized:  says  Rodrigo  Yanez  of  Seville, 
who  wrote  the  Poem  of  Alfonso  XI: 

Yusuf  of  Granada 

Alone  bewailed  his  shame: 
Into  the  Alhambra 

A  broken  man  he  came : 
"Why  didst,  0  heart  of  copper, 
Not  break  with  me  to-day?" 
He  broke  his  sword.    "Granada 
To  day  has  lost  her  stay. 
S.  James,  S.  James  of  Spain 

He  killed  my  Moors  for  me, 
He  broke  my  gallant  banner, 

Broke  up  my  company. 
I  saw  him  all  that  day, 

With  many  armed  men : 
The  sea  was  like  dry  land 

And  all  cross-covered  them." 

A  century  before,  in  1248,  for  a  battle  at 
the  foot  of  the  Sierra  Morena,  the  hardy 
Master  had  asked  God  to  hold  back  the 

viz.,  one 
Francisco 
de  Morla 

At  the 
Battle  of 
Salada: 
V.  p.  199 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

192 


IS.  Maria 
ten  tu  dial 


'And  when 
at  last 
defeated   in 
His  wars  .  . 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


afternoon  sun  till  the  work  could  be 
finished,  as  He  did  for  Joshua,  captain  of 
the  hosts  of  Israel ;  and  this  being  S.  Mary's 
Day— he  had  said,  S.  Mary,  stop  your  day! 
— and  she  interceding,  the  sun  had  been 
stayed  for  a  very  noticeable  time. 

The  death  of  the  Master  D.  Gonzalo 
Ruiz  Giron  in  1280,  though  it  is  written 
in  the  contemporary  Chronicle  of  Alfonso  X, 
is  stuff  torn  off  from  a  romance.  It  was 
Saturday,  the  eve  of  S.  John;  the  hOvSt 
under  the  Infant  D.  Sancho  had  entered 
the  Vega  of  Granada  and  was  awaiting 
reinforcements  there:  and  the  Prince  gave 
it  strictly  in  charge  to  D.  Gonzalo  Ruiz 
Giron,  and  an  abbot  from  Valladolid,  and 
another,  to  guard  those  who  went  out  for 
forage,  and  for  food  and  for  wood.  The 
expedition  pushed  as  far  as  the  castle  of 
Moclin,  and  already  the  provisioners  were 
safe  again  in  camp,  and  the  others  strag- 
gling back,  when  near  the  castle  came  in 
sight  a  hundred  Moorish  knights.  Then 
the  Master,  because  his  heart  was  great, 
waited  for  none  of  the  others  nor  yet  for 
his  own  folk  but  started  to  attack  them 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

193 

with  a  bare  handful,  and  the  Moors  fleeing 
drew  him  on  to  an  ambush  where  lay  two 
thousand  of  the  Moorish  cavalry.    These 
being    discovered,    assaulted,    and    they 
gave  Gonzalo  Ruiz  the  wounds  of  which  he 
died;   they  chased  the  Christians  back  to 
the  tents  of  the  encampment  and  killed 
that  day,  between  knights  and  footmen, 
two   thousand   and   eight   hundred:    and 
there  died  the  greater  part  of  the  freyla 
of   the   Order   of   S.    James;    and   many 
knights  and  many  others  were  taken  prison- 
ers there.    The  Prince,  when  he  knew  it, 
mounted  and  went  over  all  the  camp,  and 
lay  there  until  Monday:   then  he  ordered 
the   Master  of   Santiago   to   go   back   to 
Alcadete  for  attention;    they  started  to 
move  him  in  a  litter,  but  the  soldiery  were 
so  terrified  by  what  had  befallen  that  hall 
the  camp  started  to  move  off  with  him. 
Which  seeing,  the  Prince  ordered  him  back 
again,  with  bitter  words:   "The  camp  shall 
not  be  broken  up  for  you,"  he  said,  and 
again,    ''You   have   spoilt   my   sally   into 
Granada  meadow."     And  with  that,   as 
I  think,  the  Master's  great  heart  broke,  for, 

.  .  .  They 
have  gone 
down 
under  the 
same  white 
stars  .  .  ." 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

194 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

Centrifugal 
and  anti- 
clerical 
forces 

Crabbed 
youth  and 
age 

says  the  Chronicle ,  "therewith  the  Master 
died." 

This  was  he  that  had  stayed  the  sun 
once,  trundled  hither  and  yon  in  a  Htter, 
chidden  by  a  headstrong  Prince. 

1 

After  the  death  of  King  Ferdinand  the 
Master  had  confederated  with  other  nobles 
and  with  the  Infant  D.  Fadrique,  and  was 
one  of  the  foremost  to  compel  the  King 
to  govern  differently  and  not  break  the  old 
fueros  and  privileges  of  the  nobility,  or 
fatigue  the  labourers  with  excessive  tribute. 
The  struggle  between  the  central  power 
and  the  centrifugal  forces  inherent  in  the 
Spanish  race  was  already  declared. 

Though  between  seculars  and  clerics  the 
trouble  had  been  adjusted,  there  was  a  gulf 
between  old  and  young,  and  dissensions. 
The  trezes,  the  thirteen  Elder  Statesmen, 
wanted  to  elect  one  of  their  own  for  Master, 
they  too  often  succeeded,  and  such  were 
useless  in  the  field.    The  King  D.  Sancho 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


insisted  on  D.  Gonzalo  Martel,  in  1284, 
who  was  de  los  muy  modernos,  but  he  died 
in  three  months  by  a  fall  from  his  horse 
and  the  old  men  came  back:  in  1324,  for 
instance,  the  knights  in  the  field  had  to 
serve  under  the  Master  of  Calatrava. 

The  accident  was  unlucky  for  the  Mas- 
ter, Martel,  but  it  was  of  a  piece  with  all 
the  ill-luck  that  hangs  over  the  King  his 
friend.  This  King  D.  Sancho  the  Bold 
was  perhaps  such  another  unhappy  warrior 
as  his  father's  grandfather,  Alfonso  IX  of 
Leon,  ill-starred  in  life,  ill-spoken  of  there- 
after, for  no  wrongdoing  of  his  own  but  by 
perversity  of  fate.  He  married  his  second 
cousin  Dofia  Maria,  the  daughter  of  the 
Lord  of  Molina,  S.  Ferdinand's  knightly 
younger  brother,  and  the  Pope,  though  the 
degree  was  so  remote,  withheld  his  dis- 
pensation at  the  instance  of  the  King  of 
France,  saying  that  D.  Sancho  had  ustirped 
the  kingdom  from  his  nephew  D.  Alonso 
who  by  his  mother,  the  Princess  Blanche 
was  a  nephew  of  the  King  of  France.  The 
correspondence  of  another  Pope,  Innocent 
VI,    with    another    French    Blanche,    the 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


195 


Fit 

figiire  for 
classic 
tragedy 


196 


The  Roman 
policy 


Till  the 
Constable 
of  Bourbon 
sacked 
Rome  for 
the  Em- 
peror 


Schism  in 
Portugal 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


Queen  of  King  Peter,  has  lately  been  pub- 
lished. The  fixed  poHcy  of  the  Roman 
curia  was  to  keep  Spain  torn  by  intestine 
wars,  in  order  to  manipulate  the  balance 
of  power.  Spanish  Kings  had  enough  to 
do,  at  home  and  abroad,  and  could  not 
retaliate  in  self-protection  like  the  great 
princes  in  Italy.  Meanwhile,  and  in  con- 
sequence perhaps,  towards  the  close  of  the 
thirteenth  century  a  Bull  of  Nicholas  IV 
permitted  the  Portuguese  Comendador  and 
knights  to  elect  their  own  Master  in  com- 
plete independence.  The  whole  Order  pro- 
tested with  such  justice  and  force  that 
Celestine  V  revoked  it,  but  never  again 
would  the  Portuguese  recognize  the  IM aster 
of  Castile  and  Leon. 


I 


King  Alfonso  XI,  being  in  Cuenca  when 
in  1338  the  Master  D.  Vasco  Rodriguez 
died,  learned  promptly  of  it,  and  sent  mes- 
sages to  the  trezes  forbidding  them  to  elect 
a  new  Master  without  his  presence  and 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

197 

licence,  and  summoning  them  to  Cuenca 
for  the  purpose.     They  rephed  that  they 
would  elect  a  person  proper  for  the  service 
of  God  and  the  King,  but  that  it  was  not 
lawful  to  hold  an  election  in  Cuenca  or 
any  other  town  not  of  their  Order,  and  at 
Ucles  incontinently  they  elected  D.  Vasco 
Lopez.     The  King  was  not  pleased.     He 
seems  to  have  moved  out  of  their  country 
into  his  own,  and  sent  for  them  to  come 
to   him   at    Guadalajara:     and   there   he 
explained  that  he  desired  to  have  his  six- 
year-old   son    D.    Fadrique   elected.      D. 
Vasco   Lopez,   hearing   of   this,   went   to 
Montanches  and  took  the   treasure   and 
many  precious  things  withal,  and  withdrew 
to  Portugal.    This  was  stated  at  the  chap- 
ter  in   Ocana   called   by   King   Alfonso's 
orders,    and   it   is   quite   credible:    other 
accusations,    Hke    that    of    coining    false 
money,  and  entering  a  city  over  the  wall, 
are  commonplaces  of  false-witness  and  may 
be    dismissed.      The    chapter    obediently 

D.  Vasco 
L6pez 

elected  the  baby  son  of  Leonor  de  Guzman, 
and  consented  that  her  brother  D.  Alonso 
Mendez  de  Guzman  should  be  f rocked  for 

AND     JMONOGRAPHS 

198 


The  honour 
of  Guzmdn 


MILITARY    ORDERS 


the  interim.  It  was,  of  course,  a  scandal, 
though  it  gave  the  King  a  good  soldier 
where  he  needed  one,  the  policy  of  Alfonso 
XI  being  to  keep  his  great  lords  too  busy 
with  war  to  have  time  to  make  trouble 
for  him. 

The  Chronicle  has  a  spirited  story  which 
must  fall  about  this  time:  how  the  Master 
on  a  raid  into  the  Kingdom  of  Granada, 
being  three  times  outnumbered,  held  a 
council  but  would  not  withdraw.  The  Mas- 
ters his  predecessors,  he  said,  did  not 
worry  when  they  were  fighting  the  Moorish 
Kings,  and  even  granting  his  lineage  was 
no  better  than  other  Masters'  before  him, 
yet  he  could  not  do  less  than  those  of  the 
lineage  of  Guzman  whence  he  came: 
"Therefore  I  ask  you  kindly  to  come  on 
into  the  battle,"  and  without  waiting  for 
an  answer  he  displayed  his  banner. 

A  big,  tough  spirit  had  he,  like  all  the 
race  of  Guzman.  That  Dona  Leonor's 
sons  were  all  thrice-dyed  traitors  and 
rebels  irreconcilable,  was  due  chiefly  to 
their  position  as  disappointed  pretendants 
to  royalty,  and  their  apt  use  as  tools  for 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


those  whose  HveHhood  was  sedition.  Henry 
of  Trastamara  honestly  and  candidly 
wanted  to  murder  his  brother  from  birth 
to  death;  D.  Tello,  on  the  other  hand, 
King  Peter  believed  in  and  trusted  to  the 
very  last  though  he  seems  to  have  been 
the  one  whose  heart  was  foul  and  whose 
tongue  was  double  by  nature.  D.  Fadrique 
was  loyal  and  friendly  at  times,  but  capable 
of  becoming  at  any  moment  a  menace: 
and  once  too  often  the  King  mistrusted 
him.  All  this  brood  of  half-breed  princes 
were  already  in  the  field  when  D.  Alfonso 
set  out  for  the  battle  of  Salada :  the  vassals 
of  the  Infant  and  heir  D.  Pedro  were  there 
with  his  banner,  but  he  was  left  in  Seville, 
being  then  five  years  old. 


« 


The  battle  of  Salada  is  recalled  as  one 
of  the  glories  of  Spain,  and  the  treasure 
taken  in  the  booty  there  was  so  great  that 
the  value  of  the  gold  fell  one-sixth  in  the 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


199 


and  the 

bastards' 

characters 


The  Battle 

of  Salada 


y^ 


200 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

A  golden 
fleece 

Though 
anti-semi- 
tism  is 
commercial, 
invasion  is 
personal 

markets  of  Europe.     "There  sheep  were 
sheared   with    fleece   of   gold,"    says   the 
poem.    It  caught  the  last  wave  of  invasion 
just    as   it   broke,    and   thereafter    Spain 
never  lay  in  real  danger,   and  the  wars 
of  Granada  were  for  a  sort  of  gallant  play, 
and  then  for  conquest  and  profit.     There 
is  but  little  difference,  in  truth,  between 
the  expulsion  of  the  last  Moors  by  the 
Catholic  Kings  and  the  expulsion  of  the 
Jews  and  Moriscoes  thereafter:  both  were 
explosions  of  anti-semitism  commercially 
accounted  for.    But  at  the  river  Salada  the 
danger  was  real,  and  the  struggle  had  still 
the  consecration  of  self-defence  and  the 
aureole  of  a  crusade.    The  Poem  of  Alfonso 
XI  is  the  chanson  de  geste  of  that  battle: 
it  leads  up  to  it  and  away  again  but  the 
battle  is  the  life  and  reason  of  the  poem. 
Very  gallant,  in  its  short  ballad-beat,  is 
the  account  of  the  mustering: 

Gentry  in  great  guise, 
From  Castile  the  royal, 

Princes  of  Galicia 

And  knights  of  Portugal. 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


Castilian  noblemen 
And  many  knights  beside, 

For  keeping  of  their  vow 
Like  brethren  they  ride. 

P'or  a  moment  the  crusading  spirit  has 
returned  again;  but  the  piece  is  a  Httle 
artificial,  like  the  ideals,  and  refers  to 
Charlemagne,  Oliver  and  Roland,  and 
recalls,  to  its  own  disadvantage,  the  heroic 
age.  Notwithstanding,  it  can  stir  the  blood 
like  the  shrilling  of  trumpets  and  kettle- 
drums, as  for  instance  in  the  passage  where 
the  whole  army  intones  the  Salve  Regina, 
or  that  where  the  King  waits  for  dawn, 
lying  on  his  bed  not  coveting  wealth  but 
longing  for  the  day  that  shall  show  him 
the  enemy,  stretched  out  with  passion 
at  heart,  like  a  couchant  lion,  and  praying 
for  the  light,  till  the  planets  finish  their 
course  and  twilight  begins,  and  dawn  comes, 
and  the  light  brightens,  and  the  King 
makes  a  prayer. 

More  often,  however,  it  stays  at  the 
ballad  level : 


201 


A  right 

epical 

passage 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


202 


declining  to 
a  ballad's 
measure 


or  even  the 
blind  beg- 
gar's whine 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


Then  up  and  rode  for  the  frontier 

The  Kings  with  all  their  noble  men, 
And  ever  in  the  front  of  all 

The  Master  of  S.  James  rode  then: 
The  Master  of  S.  James  was  lord 

Of  castle  and  of  town  by  right, 
He  was  a  noble  gentleman 

A  trusty  leader  in  a  fight. 

The  Chroniclers  account  of  the  Pope's 
reception  at  Avignon  of  the  news  of  the 
victory,  is  more  splendid  than  anything  in 
the  Poem:  the  great  banner  beating  in 
the  autumn  wind,  the  captured  horses  and 
armour,  the  four  and  twenty  Moorish 
standards,  Benedict  the  Pope  in  proces- 
sion, and  the  long,  bright  line  of  cardinals, 
and  the  thunderous  chanting,  Vexilla 
Regis  pr ode unt fidget  Crucis  mysterium.  But 
the  Orders  counted  for  little  there. 

The  Master  of  Santiago  was  killed  that 
day:  the  poet  is  quite  indifferent  but  does 
his  duty: 

And  where  the  press  was  thick. 

As  men  do  still  relate, 
Alfonso  Mendez  Guzmdn 

Therein  has  met  his  fate; 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

203 

The  Master  of  S.  James, 

A  well-approved  lord, 
The  stay  of  every  nobleman 

And  generous  in  reward; 
Whom  all  men  spoke  of  well, 

Whose  luck  was  sure  and  high. 
Now  may  his  soul  be  safe  with  God 

In  the  kingdom  of  the  sky! 

The  Master  D.  Fadrique  was  installed 
at  ten  years  of  age,  in  1343,  and  the  King 
sent  over  his  standard  and  his  vassals  to 
the  Order  at  once.     He  was  under  age  and 
a  bastard  but  the  Papal  dispensations  were 
at  hand.    Then  in  1350  King  Alfonso  XI 
died,  before  Algeciras.     Along  with  him 
died  many  another  noble  gentleman,  some 
from  far  countries.    It  was  the  first  appear- 
ance of  the  Black  Death:  two  years  before 
it  had  raged  in  Italy  and  England,  and  had 
reached  the  Spanish  seaports:   now  it  got 
into  the  serried  camp.     Among  the  dead 
the    Chronicle    recites    are    the    King    of 
Navarre,  the  Master  of  Alcantara,  Gaston 

At  this  time 
the  Black 
Death 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

204 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

As  the 
mourners 
stand 

around  such 
tombs  as 
those  at 
Dijon  of  the 
Dukes  of 
Burgundy 

King 
Peter's 

accession 

Count  of  Foix  and  Beam,  and  Henry  of 
Lancaster  the  Earl  of  Derby.  The 
Genoese  had  weighed  anchor  and  spread 
sail,  though  the  King  contrived  to  retain 
them,  nor  would  he  consent  to  go.  When 
the  King  himself  was  dead  and  the  funeral 
procession  set  out  from  the  camp  black - 
cloaked,  black-hooded,  by  tens  and  by 
hundreds,  the  Moors  within  the  city  came 
out  by  the  gates  and  stood  in  silence  hon- 
ouring a  great  King  and  a  goodly  enemy. 

So  at  the  age  of  fifteen  King  Peter  was 
left  with  a  kingdom  broken  to  war,  and 
wealthy;  with  two  strong  women  who 
panted  for  each  other's  death;  with  a  band 
of  well-grown  brothers  who  had  counted 
on  inheriting  the  crown  and  the  princely 
places.  He  certainly  tried  at  first  to  trust 
them:  he  used  them  well.  His  mother 
declared  her  own  life  insecure — which  may 
quite  have  been  true — and  had  her  will  of 
Leonor  de  Guzman,  nor  did  any  much 
regret. 

The  Master  visited  the  King  at  Cuellar, 
and  Maria  de  Padilla  and  the  King's  own 
friends  tried  to  come  to  a  good  under- 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN    SPAIN 

205 

standing  with  him,  but  Albuquerque,  as 
all  historians  agree,  made  mischief,  for  his 
own  ends,  between  King  Peter,  and  the 
Count   of   Trastamara   and   the   Master; 
and  with  Blanche  of  Bourbon  as  an  excuse 
they  rebelled. 

Next  the  King  tried  to  put  in  some  one 
whom  he  could  trust,   D.   Juan  Garcia, 
Maria  de  Padilla's  brother:   the  Comenda- 
dor    Mayor    and    he    met    in    battle    at 
Tarancon  (which  lies  between  Ucles  and 
Cuenca)    and    he   was  killed.    Meantime 
Toledo  had  risen  for  the  French  Queen 
Blanche,    and    the    Master     and     Count 
Henry  were  sacking  the  Jewry  there,  as 
the  French  had  tried  to  sack  it  two  cen- 
turies and  a  half  before,  and  again,  as  then, 
some  knights  withstood  them.    The  rebels 
held  the  bridge  of  Alcantara  but  the  King 
made  a  brilHant  move,  forded  the  Tagus, 
and  retook  the  town  by  the  bridge  of  S. 
Martin.     The  brothers  escaped  and  the 
Master  elected  for  loyalty;   next  year,  for 
service  in  the  war  with  Aragon,  he  got 
back  the  Maestrazgo.    Shortly  after,  when 
he  was  in  Seville,  King  Peter  was  informed 

Henry  of 
Trastamara 
was 

strongly 
anti- 
semite 
Cf.  The 
House  of 
Greco,  pub- 
lished by 
the 

Hispanic 
Society. 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

206 


The  death 
of  the 
Master 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


of  other  matters:  false  the  story  may 
have  been  but  it  was  characteristic,  and 
credible;  he  believed  it,  and  sent  for  him. 
In  the  annals  of  the  Order  it  is  said  that 
King  Peter  told  his  cousin,  the  Infant  of 
Aragon,  of  knowing  other  treachery  of  the 
Master's  and  that  he  must  die:  and  a 
certain  clerk  learned  somehow  of  this,  and 
went  out  by  the  road  on  which  the  IM  aster 
should  arrive,  to  warn  him.  He  dared  not 
speak  plainly  but  conveyed  it  to  him  by 
enigmas  and  comparisons,  but  the  Master 
paid  no  heed.  Then  when,  says  the 
Chronicle,  the  Master  D.  Fadrique  had 
talked  with  the  King  he  visited  Maria 
de  Padilla  and  the  King's  children,  and  D. 
Alaria  who  knew  all  could  not  conceal 
her  sadness.  He  went  downstairs  and  found 
the  gates  closed,  but  an  Asturian  of  the 
order,  Suer  Gutierrez  de  Navales,  said  to 
him  twice,  "Master,  the  little  gate  of  the 
yard  is  open,"  and  again,  ''Get  out  of  the 
Alcazar  for  you  have  plenty  of  mules," 
meaning  thereby  freyles  of  the  order,  ser- 
viceable. *'If  he  could  not  escape,  at 
least  he  should  not  die  till  many  had  died 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

207 

before  him" — a  goodly  saying,  that,  for 
the  Chronicle  of  Pero  Lopez  de  Ayala  is 
gallant  reading.    But  he  came  back  to  the 
King  and  by  this  time  he  was  bewildered, 
and  when  the  executioners  came  upon  him 
his  sword  caught  in  the  baldric  so  he  could 
not  draw  it  and  they  chased  him  from  side 
to  side,  and  at  last  one  struck  him  down. 
This  was  in  the  delicate  Mudejar  apart- 
ments of  the  Alcazar  of  Seville,  where  the 
shifting  shadows  in  the  foimtain  basins 
still  weave  a  bewilderment  and  the  air  is 
heavy  with  sorrowful  memories. 

The  truth  we  shall  never  know:   but  it 
is  likely   the   Master  was  plotting  again. 
The    popular    fancy,    which    loves    these 
tragic  histories,  has  seized  for  an  admira- 
ble Romance  on  this  young  comely  figure, 
unsuspicious  and  almost  fey.    He  died  at 
twenty-six  and  left  two  children:  the  popu- 
lar imagination  cherishes  also  the  notion 
that  one  of  these  children  was  borne  by 
Blanche  of  Bourbon,  for  whose  sake  and 
his    honour's    King    Peter    hated    him. 
That  IS  incredible,  though  the  great  house 
of    Perafan   de   Ribera,    the   Admiral   of 

Legendary 
enhance- 
ments 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

208 


The 

Romance 


MILITARY    ORDERS 


Castile,  was  pleased  to  countenance  it 
In  matter  of  legend  nothing  need  stand  or 
fall  with  anything  else;  but  a  legend  is 
none  the  worse  because  belief  is  not  of 
obligation. 

The  piteous  Romance,  then,  of  the  Death 
of  the  Master,  is  somewhat  as  follows.  By 
a  rare  and  vivid  invention,  the  wronged 
man  himself  speaks : 

I  lay  in  Coimbra  city 

that  I  had  taken  in  war. 
When  a  letter  was  sent  from  my  brother 
Peter 

in  Seville  jousting  there. 
I  the  Master  was  luckless 

I  the  Master  was  fey : 
I  took  a  dozen  mule-men, 

a  score  of  horses  that  day, 
All  with  gold  chains  jingling 

and  doublets  of  brocade! 
It  was  a  fortnight's  journey 

but  in  a  week  it  was  made. 
Once  at  the  ford  of  a  river 

my  mule  fell  heavily,  ^ 

I  lost  my  golden  dagger, 

my  page  was  drowned  by  me. 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


He  was  a  little  page-boy 

the  nighest  to  my  heart, 
I  brought  him  up  in  my  chamber 

and  prized  and  set  him  apart. 
With  all  these  evil  chances 

at  last  at  Seville  I  was, 
And  met  a  clerk  at  the  city  gate 

that  never  yet  had  said  Mass, 
"God  keep  you.  Master:   welcome! 

A  son  was  bom  you  last  night : 
You  are  but  one  and  twenty, 

and  we  will  christen  him  right." 
Then  up  and  answered  the  Master — 

mark  well  what  he  must  say — 
"Bid  me  not  that,  good  father! 

It  boots  not,  I  cannot  stay. 
I  ride  to  answer  a  summons, 

the  King  my  brother's  claim." 
I  spurred  my  mule  through  the  gateway 

and  into  Seville  I  came. 
No  hangings  I  saw  on  the  houses, 

in  the  ways  no  tilting  knight; 
I  tu[*ned  artd  sought  the  palace 

and  my  brother  King  Peter's  sight. 
When  I  had  passed  the  gateway 

the  gates  behind  me  swung; 
They  took  my  sword  away  from  me 

that  at  my  side  had  hung; 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


209 


Warnings 
on  the  way 


210 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


The  King's 
reproach 


They  took  my  men  away  from  me 

that  all  the  way  had  come. 
These  warned  me  then  of  treason 

my  loyal  men  and  true, 
And  bade  me  still  turn  back  with  them 

for  they  could  see  me  through. 
Nothing  I  recked  of  their  warning 

because  my  heart  was  free 
And  I  went  to  King  Peter's  chamber 

who  greeted  me  evilly. 
' '  Never  you  come  to  see  us 

save  only  once  a  year, 
Yet  when  you  come,  proud  Master, 

you  are  fetched  by  force  or  fear. 
And  now  your  head  is  begged  me 

in  largess  or  in  fee." 
"Why  so,  good  King?  for  never 

have  I  done  ill  to  thee! 
I  left  thee  not  in  battle 

nor  when  with  the  Moors  we  fought." 
"Come,  warders,  and  do  my  bidding! 

You  know  it,  what  you  ought!' ' 
Hardly  the  words  were  spoken 

his  head  was  hacked  off  straight 
And  to  Maria  Padilla 

sent  in  a  silver  plate. 
As  though  he  stood  there  living 

the  lady  faced  that  brow : 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN    SPAIN 


211 


"At  last  I  pay  you,  traitor 

for  yester-year  arid  now ! 
The  evil  council  you  gave 

as  the  King  your  brother  has  found. 
She  snatched  it  up  by  the  curls 

and  flung  it  out  to  a  hound. 
The  faithful  hound  was  the  Master's, 

he  laid  it  softly  by, 
And  with  his  wretched  howling 

the  palace  echoed  high. 
Then  asked  the  King  in  anger 

"Now  who  has  hurt  the  hound?" 
And  bitter  was  the  answer 

of  those  that  stood  around: — 
"Lord,  the  Head  he  is  guarding, 

the  Master  your  brother's  head." 
Then  up  and  spake  an  aged  aunt 

of  the  living  and  the  dead: — 
"How  ill  you  served  him,  King! 

how  ill  you  have  served,"  she  saith, 
"All  for  a  worthless  woman 

to  do  a  brother  to  death!" 
Although  he  answered  nothing 

when  he  had  thought  awhile 
He  went  to  Dona  Maria 

and  bespake  her  in  this  style : 
"Take  her,  knights,  as  she  stands 

and  put  her  in  sure  hold, 


The  Lady's 
revenge 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


212 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

Was  she  a 
witch? 

Character 
of  Maria 
PadiUa 

For  I  will  give  her  such  penance 

as  ever  more  shall  be  told." 
Deep  in  his  darkest  dungeons 

the  King  has  closed  her  up, 
With  his  own  hand  he  carries  her 

every  bite  and  sup, 
And  trusts  to  no  one  excepting 

a  page  that  he  brought  up. 

In  the  popular  imagination  Dona  Maria 
de  Padilla  was  not  only  a  worthless  woman, 
una  mala  mujer,  she  was  also  a  witch,  and 
such  to  this  day  she  remains  in  obscure 
phrases  of  folk-lore.     The  King's  precau- 
tion in  this  Romance  bespeaks  the  same 
power.    In  the  romantic  and  accomplished 
narrative  of  Pero  Lopez  de  Ayala  she  is  a 
guiltless  and  lovely  lady,  whose  only  wrong 
was  to  have  loved,  gentle  and  kind  beyond 
the  ordinary,  wistful,  very  touching.     As 
such  she  has  passed  into  histor>':    the  one 
figure  is  as  fabulous  as  the  other. 

1 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


It  is  hard  not  to  see  these  figures  as 
miniatures  in  a  Book  of  Hours  or  Chroni- 
cles: slender  youths  in  vivid  green  and 
scarlet,  sinuous  girlish  forms  in  blue  and 
rose,  all  inhuman  as  the  flowers  in  the  grass, 
as  the  bright  birds  in  cages  of  osier  or  gilded 
wire.  They  have  their  passions,  doubtless, 
and  the  death  of  the  Master  in  the  history 
is  as  terribly  real  as  the  death  of  Lear; 
for  a  moment  the  beating  of  time's  wings 
is  stopped.  You  feel  hearts  throb  and 
sicken,  but  you  turn  on,  and  over  the  leaf 
find  a  quaint  case  of  conscience. 

D.  Pedro  Ruiz  de  Sandoval  was  called 
Pig-face,  perhaps  for  some  personal  deform- 
ity, but  he  was  a  gentleman  of  a  nice 
honour.  During  the  war  between  King 
Peter  and  his  usurping  brother  two  Mas- 
ters were  in  the  field,  and  after  D.  Peter's 
murder  one  resigned.  Now  Sandoval  was 
in  command  of  a  castle,  which  he  had 
sworn  to  his  lawful  King  that  he  would 
not  give  up  without  his  leave:  and  he 
refused  to  admit  the  new  Master.  He 
resigned  the  command  of  the  castle  to  his 
squire,  and  put  himself  in  the  hands  of  the 


213 


Miniatures 


A  case  of 
conscience 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


214 


Peribafiez 
and  the 
Commander 
of  Ocana 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


Master  as  a  freyle  of  the  Order:  and  all 
said  he  acted  as  a  good  knight.  It  seems 
that  a  man's  honour  may  cost  him  more 
pains  than  a  love-affair. 


I 


Of  another  Romance  about  a  Commander 
of  the  order,  only  two  fragments  have 
survived:  it  related  how  the  Comendador 
of  Ocafia  loved  the  wife  of  Peribafiez,  and 
what  was  the  outcome  we  cannot  surely 
know. 

The  wife  of  Peribafiez  was  fair  all  else 

above ; 
The  Commander  of  Ocaiia  would  have 

her  for  his  love. 

So  it  begins,  and  we  know  the  chaste 
wife's  answer  to  an  unlawful  suit: 

''For  I  love  Peribafiez  with  his  cloak  of 
hodden  grey 
More    than    yourself,    Commander,    al- 
though you  go  so  gay." 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

215 

This  is  the  right  ballad  vein,  and  the 
ballad  ending  should  be  happy  as  well  as 
virtuous.  Lope  de  Vega,  making  a  play 
out  of  the  scraps  he  had  picked  up  some- 
where, calls  it  a  tragi-comedy,  and  here 
the  wife  for  all  her  honesty  would  have 
fared  ill  but  for  her  husband's  sudden 
return.  Peribafiez,  surprising  the  Com- 
mander by  night  in  his  house,  kills  him: 
and  when  the  King  offers  a  reward  for  the 
person  of  the  murderer,  presents,  in  person, 
his  wife  to  collect  the  price,  which  will  give 
her  wherewith  to  support  her  widowhood 
when  he  shall  have  been  executed.  An 
ingenious  ending  this,  too  clever  by  half  for 
the  Romances:  in  consequence,  we  doubt 
the  outcome  of  the  original  Romance.  But 
it  is  likely  that  the  dramatist  knew  no 
more  than  he  puts  in  the  mouth  of  a 
reaper  laid  to  sleep  with  his  mates  under 
a  balcony  through  the  short  midsummer 
night. 

Lope  de  Vega  is  at  his  happiest  in  dealing 
with  legendary  matter,  better  by  far  than 
any  of  the  English  dramatists  because  more 
poetic  and,  at  the  same  time,  more  sincere. 

Lope  de 
Vega 

Casuistry 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

216 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

English  and 
Spanish 
plays 
compared 

Comparing  with  this  play  Greene's  Friar 
Bacon  and  Friar  Bungay,  one  feels  how 
shallow  in  that  is  the  historical  concern 
and  how  little  the  personages  of  the  differ- 
ent intrigues  have  rightly  to  do  with  each 
other:  comparing  the  Robert  Earl  of  Hunt- 
ington plays,  and  the  quite  unconcerned 
adaptation  of  ballad  matter  to  a  chronicle 
form   that   drags   out   through  ten   acts, 
one  perceives  that  the  author  was  held  to 
no  particular  standards  dramatic  or  racial. 
The  parallels  are  not  very  precise,  but 
they  may  serve:   it  is  hard  to  find  closer, 
for  the  different  temper  of  playwrights  in 
the  peninsula  and  the  island,  the  latter 
preferring  to  take  their  history  in  chunks 
and  go  abroad  for  their  romance,  so  that 
the  strictly  English  comedies  are  the  Roar- 
ing Girl,  and  .1  Chaste  Maid  in  Cheapside, 
and  in  Measure  for  Measure   (to  take  a 
single  instance  from  a  possible  score)  the 
setting  and  the  issues  are  consciously  exotic 
and  alien.    With  Lope  de  Vega,  the  mater- 
ial and  the  sense  for  romance  are  racial 
both,  and  the  play  in  question  is  a  compact 
fabric,    close-woven    and    even-coloured. 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

217 

background  and  love-interest  alike.     Like 
the  best  Spanish  wine,  it  keeps  a  tang  of 
the  skin. 

1 

The  Infants  of  Aragon  come  upon  the 
scene.     I  think  those  who  know  nothing 
else  in  the  history  or  the  poetry  of  Spain, 
still  hear  like  a  ringing  in  the  ears,  that 
old  question: 

(iQue  se  hizo  el  rey  D.  Juan? 
iLos  infantes  de  Aragon 
Que  se  hicieron? 

D.  Enrique  de  Aragon  was  the  thirty- 
fifth    Master.      His    father,    the    Infant 
Ferdinand  of  Aragon  (el  de  Antequera)  was 
set  upon  it,  having  one  son  already  Master 
of  Alcantara,  and  being  himself  Lord  of 
Lara,  Duke  of  Pefiafiel,  Count  of  Mayor- 
aga,  Lord  of  Cuellar,  S.  Esteban  de  Gormaz. 
and  Castrojeriz,  and  by  his  wife  Duke  of 
Albuquerque,  Count  of  Ledesma,  Lord  of 
Haro,  Briones,  Bellorado,  etc.,  etc.    Who 
should  gainsay? 

The 

Infants  of 
Aragon 

D.  Enrique 
de  Aragon 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

218 


The 

Princess" 

tragedy 


The 

convent- 
palace  at 

Tordesillas 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


The  Infant  was  not  yet  satisfied.  His 
father  died  first  and  then  Queen  Catharine 
of  Lancaster,  the  young  King's  two  guard- 
ians, and  he  was  not  yet  appointed  for  the 
office,  nor  yet  was  the  Princess  Catharine 
given  him  to  wife.  She,  poor  lady,  per- 
haps was  fair,  certainly  was  virtuous;  and 
she  was  strong-willed,  but  not  fortunate. 
He  raised  three  hundred  men  and  under 
pretext  of  visiting  his  mother,  Queen 
Leonor,  he  went  to  Tordesillas  and  cap- 
tured the  King.  Mendozas  were  with  him 
in  this  adventure,  and  the  Constable  Ruy 
de  Avalos.  They  dismissed  all  the  King's 
friends  except  D.  Alvaro  de  Luna,  and  car- 
ried ofT  D.  Juan  to  Segovia  with  his  sister. 
The  Princess  had  taken  sanctuary  in  the 
convent  of  S.  Clare,  in  the  lovely  Mudejar 
palace  that  King  Peter  built  for  Maria  de 
Padilla,  with  its  cusped  and  carven  arches 
of  molded  plaster  around  sun-steeped  patios . 
its  marvellous  hall  where  on  such  interlac- 
ing arches  a  dome  hangs  like  a  great  fruit 
and  the  perishing  colours  of  frescoes  yet 
glow  on  the  walls  as  from  afar.  Thence 
she    refused    to    come.      She    may    have 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

219 

remembered  how  Queen  Blanche  of  Bour- 
bon had  taken  sanctuary  once  in  Toledo 
cathedral  and  the  town  had  risen  in  her 
defence.    But  she  was  no  queen  nor  were 
the  nuns  strong  burghers  of  a  great  city. 
When  the  Prince's  party  threatened  the 
convent,  she  had  to  leave. 

Meanwhile  the  Infant  D.  Juan  was  in 
Navarre     marrying     Queen     Blanche     of 
Evreux:    Fernan  Alonso  de  Robles  wrote 
to  him  and  he  gathered  men  at  Cuellar  and 
came  on  to  Segovia  for  a  rescue,  but  the 
King  D.  Juan  professed  himself  content. 
A   conference  was   arranged   at  Avila  in 
which  Queen  Leonor  set  herself  to  make 
peace  among  her  sons  and  other  kindred — 
not  easy  when  they  were  of  that  kind.    It 
was  during  this  stay  at  Avila  that,  says 
the  Chronicle,  the  Infant  D.  Enrique  made 
the  King  send  an  ambassador  to  Rome, 
the  archdean  of  Guadalajara,  D.  Gutierre 
Gomez,  to  explain  to  the  Holy  Father  how 
D.  Enrique  had  been  in  the  right  through- 
out and  how  wrong  had  been  the  Infant  D. 
Juan.    But  this  was  not  all :  the  secret  of 
the  mission  was,  in  the  King's  name,  to 

The 

Infant's 
greed 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

220 


'For 

Prosperity 
doth  best 
discover 
vice . . . 


MILITARY    ORDER  vS 


ask  the  following:  that  all  cities  and 
places  which  were  attached  to  the  Master- 
ship of  Santiago  should  become  the  per- 
sonal and  entailed  property  of  the  Infant 
D.  Enrique,  to  be  inherited  by  his  offvSpring, 
and  that  the  domain  should  be  called  no 
longer  Maestrazgo,  but  Dtichy.  This 
being,  as  he  seemed  to  think,  as  good  as 
done,  he  went  on  to  take  his  wife;  the  King 
was  apparently  compliant  entirely.  As 
surely  as  the  King  was  going  from  Avila 
to  Talavera,  without  the  knowledge  of 
Queen  Leonor  who  lay  in  Medina  del 
Campo,  aw^aiting  a  solution  of  the  negotia- 
tions, so  surely  he  was  going  with  D.  En- 
rique in  spite  of  D.  Alvaro  de  Luna's  oppo- 
sition. The  Constable  forbade  it.  He 
went  notwithstanding  and  lay  one  night  in 
a  mountain  castle  belonging  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Toledo,  called  Alamin,  and  there 
the  Infant  and  the  Infanta  Dona  Catalina 
saw  each  other  and  held  converse.  What 
else  happened  onl}^  those  there  and  D. 
Alvaro  de  Luna  knew :  bii  t  Rades  y  Andrada 
says  that  they  were  privately  married 
there.    In  Talavera,  thereafter,  they  were 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN    SPAIN 

221 

publicly  married,  and  the  Princess's  dowry 
was  the  Marquisate  of  Villena.    For  a  while 
the  King  moved  restlessly  about  Castile 
in  the  custody  of  the  Master  D.  Enrique, 
but  finally  he  escaped  under  cover  of  a 
boar  hunt.    It  is  a  good  story  for  a  winter's 
night.     He  had  now  the  assistance  of  D. 
Alvaro  de  Luna,  D.  Fadrique  of  Trasta- 
mara,  and  D.  Rodrigo  Alonso  Pimentel  the 
Count  of  Benavente.     Of  these  D.  Alvaro 
was  sincerely  attached,  as  it  would  seem, 
and  the  others  had  their  own  plans. 

Fortune's  wheel  swung  swiftly  round  in 
the  days  of  John  II.     The  Master,  when 
he  had  others  to  reckon  with   than  a  girl 
and  a  foolish  King,  anon  found  himself  in 
prison,  the  Mastership  being  administered 
by  a  deputy.    Finally  his  brother,  D.  Juan, 
now  King  of  Navarre,  begged  his  custody 
and  the  two  waited  in  Tarazona  and  were 
joined  by  the  Princess  Catharine  and  a 
third  brother,  the  King  of  Aragon.     The 
Castilian  King  John  refusing  to  pardon  and 
restore  him,  the  three  brothers  joined  with 
the  Masters  of  Calatrava  and  Alcantara 
to  overthrow  the  power  of  D.  Alvaro  de 

. . .but 
Adversity 
doth  best 
discover 
virtue" 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

222 


The 

Battle  of 
Olmedo 


An 

Italian 

type 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


Luna.  In  the  turmoil  the  Master  ex- 
changed Villena  for  Trujillo,  which  had 
long  belonged  to  the  Order :  there  are  some 
forged  letters  involved  here.  He  being 
again  found  in  open  rebellion,  the  King 
confiscated  all  his  goods  and  gave  them  to 
other  knights.  When  besieged  in  the 
castle  of  Segura  he  escaped,  and  vv-ent  on 
an  enterprise  over-sea  against  the  Genoese, 
where  all  three  brothers  were  taken  and 
sent  to  Milan,  and  there  at  last  the  Duke 
of  Milan  set  them  free.  Finally,  being  a 
widower,  he  married  Dona  Beatriz  Pimen- 
tel,  D.  Rodrigo's  daughter.  A  battle  in 
open  field  at  Olmedo  followed  hard  on  this, 
in  1445,  where  D.  Enrique  was  so  wounded 
that  shortly  afterwards  he  died  in  Cala- 
tayud,  having  been  Master  for  thirty-six 
years. 

He  is  a  picturesque  ruffian,  more  like  a 
Sforza  or  a  Riario  than  most  Spanish 
personages.  Of  royal  blood,  without  an 
establishment,  what  could  he  do  except 
live  upon  those  of  his  relatives  who  had 
crowns  and  thrones?  And  as  supple  depen- 
dence was  impossible  to  his  character,  the 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

223 

only  possible  career  was  that  of  the  pro- 
fessional bully.     In  his  relation  with   D. 
Juan,   which   was   sheer   brutal   coercion, 
with  Dona  Catalina,  which  was  abduction 
and  worse,  with  his  own  family,  which  was 
a   superior   sort   of   blackmail   varied   by 
complicity,  he  played  out  in  palaces  the 
role  of  the  niffiano  that  the  comedies  and 
novels  have  developed. 

1      • 

To  him  succeeded  D.  Alvaro  de  Luna 
the  Constable  of  Castile.    His  predecessor 
in  the  Constabulary  of  Castile  had  been 
D.  Ruy  Lopez  Davalos,  who  died  in  exile 
and  poverty,  though  before,  as  men  said, 
he  could  travel  from  Seville  to  Santiago 
de  Galicia  and  lie  every  night  in  his  own 
house.    The  Master  being  once  in  Valencia 
desired  to  visit  him,  but  the  old  man  sent 
back  a  message :   ''  Tell  your  lord  D.  Alvaro 
that  what  he  is,  we  were,  and  what  we  are, 
he  shall  be." 

D.  Ruy 

L6pez 
Davalos. 
Constable 
of  Castile 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

224 


The  legende 
of  D.  Alvaro 


Character 
of  D.  Alvaro 
de  Luna 


MILITARY    ORDERS 


It  is  good  traditional  matter,  it  may  well 
be  true.  D.  Alvaro  is  a  great  traditional 
figure  and  his  legende  is  rich.  He  is  reported 
to  have  said  upon  the  scaffold:  ''This  is 
how  the  world  serves  its  servants :  I  must 
have  served  the  world  since  I  am  served 
thus."  The  English  reader  will  remember 
Wolsey  at  the  abbey  gate. 

The  Constable  was  Master  for  only  seven 
years.  The  story  of  his  life  is  too  long  and 
too  magnificent  to  be  summarised  in  these. 
The  story  of  his  fall  should  have  been  writ- 
ten by  Roper  or  Cavendish,  that  English 
readers  might  have  no  less  advantage  than 
the  Spanish.  These  may  enjoy  the  admir- 
able portrait  drawn  by  Dr.  Salazar  in  his 
Apologia,  and  the  Chronicle  of  the  Con- 
stable, written  by  a  loyal  servitor  as  noble 
and  lofty-spirited  as  that  of  the  Chevalier 
Bayard,  and  like  him,  unknown  except 
for  his  loyalty. 

D.  Alvaro  de  Luna  was  a  man  of  great 
parts,  who  rose  without  any  considerable 
backing,  or  property,  or  high  connections, 
to  be  the  greatest  man  in  the  kingdom 
and  the  King's  master.     Nor  throughout 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

225 

his  life,  from  the  age  of  eighteen,  when  he 
was  put  about  the  King's  person  as  a  page, 
to  the  hour  of  his  death  by  that  same 
King's  consent  and  procurance,  was  his  loy- 
alty ever  altered ;  not  so  much  as  in  the  accu- 
sations of  his  enemies.     What  shall  we  say 
(his    chronicler    asks)    of    one    who    thus 
satisfied  all  that  the  world  may  ask  of  the 
good,  and  met  every  test — that  of  blood  by 
his  nobility,  that  of  time  by  his  discretion, 
that  of  adversity  by  his  coiu-age,  that  of 
power  by  his  knightliness,  that  of  his  King 
by  pure  loyalty? 

He  was  a  very  fine  gentleman,  the  perfect 
figure  of  the  courtier,  as  fit  by  agreeable- 
ness  of  his  nature  as  by  the  love  of  all  con- 
ditions:   of  middle  height,  straight,  white 
and   shapely   and   at  every   age   slender; 
his  neck  rather  long  and  straight,  his  eyes 
quick  and  always  bright,  his  glance  steady, 
dwelling  on  what  he  regarded.    He  carried 
his  countenance  high  and  glad,  the  mouth 
being  large,  the  nose  well  shapen  and  not 
pinched,  and  the  forehead  broad:   he  was 
very  early  bald.     He  hesitated  a  little  in 
beginning  to  speak:    was  gamesome  and 

This  is 
Salazar 

AND     M ONOGRAPHS 

226 


"The 

setting  sun 
and  music 
at  the 
close" 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


given  to  laughter  at  apt  times;  very  keen 
of  wit.  He  was  so  compact,  of  fiesh  and 
figure,  that  he  seemed  all  bone  and  nerve. 
He  loved  and  honoured  women  and  was  a 
good  lover,  discreet  above  most,  so  that 
none  ever  knew  such  things  as  should  not 
be  known:  an  excellent  musician.  He 
made  many  and  excellent  songs  in  which 
with  great  subtlety  he  declared  his  inven- 
tions, and  at  times  opened  many  mysteries, 
and  valiant  actions.  His  dress  was  fit  and 
whatever  he  wore  became  him,  whether  for 
the  field,  for  feats  or  for  hunting.  In 
horsemanship  he  was  surpassing,  and  de- 
lighted in  having  them  curiously  chosen 
and  serviceable.  In  war  he  was  hardy, 
and  set  himself  in  all  extraordinary  danger, 
and  suffered  well  arms  and  the  incon\'en- 
ience  of  a  soldier's  life.  Always  he  spoke 
with  particular  reverence  and  dutifulness 
of  the  King,  his  lord.  Hunting  he  relished 
when  his  occupations  allowed,  and  was 
more  skilled  in  that  art  than  any  other 
man  of  his  time.  He  frequented  much 
discreet  and  pregnant  persons  and  sought 
them  out  for  his  household  and  relied  upon 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


them.  With  the  facetious  talkers  he  was 
merry  and  very  pleasant,  but  never  made 
them  partakers  of  his  actions. 

He  was  the  son  of  a  gentleman  of  noble 
birth  and  quality,  of  an  ancient  house  in 
Aragon,  who  had  held  office  about  the 
person  of  the  late  King  of  Castile.  The 
Pope  Benedict  XIII  was  Peter  of  Luna 
and  his  great-uncle;  another  Peter  his 
uncle  was  Archbishop  of  Toledo;  another 
his  cousin-german.  Archbishop  of  Sara- 
gossa.  His  brother,  D.  Juan  de  Cerezuelos, 
he  procured  to  be  promoted  from  the  see 
of  Seville  to  that  of  Toledo,  and  his  nephew 
he  preferred  to  be  Archbishop  of  Santiago. 

His  mother  dwelt  in  the  village  of 
Cafiete,  near  Cuenca,  but  by  her  name 
Maria  de  Urazandi  she  would  be  of  Vas- 
congada:  she  married,  later,  the  Alcayde 
of  Canete;  D.  Juan  de  Cerezuelos  was  the 
son  of  this  Warden.  His  father  dying  when 
he  was  still  very  young,  his  uncle  D.  Juan 
Martinez  de  Luna  bred  him  up  in  his 
house,  and  because  he  was  of  a  good  wit, 
and  very  quick  and  ready,  he  was  well 
liked  by  all,  as  much  of  the  household  as 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


227 


Life  of  D. 
Alvaro 


228 


The  state 
of  Spain 


MILITARY    ORDERS 


abroad,  and  they  looked  that  he  should 
have  great  lordship  and  power  and  a  bright 
name.  His  uncle,  D.  Peter  of  Luna,  being 
appointed  to  be  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  he 
kept  him  with  him  there  until,  seeing  that 
if  he  lived  he  would  be  a  good  knight, 
generous  and  of  a  great  heart,  he  placed  him 
at  the  court  of  King  John.  This  was  in 
the  year  1408,  when  he  was,  as  I  think, 
about  eighteen  years  of  age.  And  the  King 
received  him  for  a  page,  and  as  he  was  a 
young  boy,  seeing  the  pleasantness  and 
good  breeding  and  the  sprightliness,  ease 
and  grace  of  D.  Alvaro  de  Luna,  he  was 
pleased  with  his  service  beyond  any  other's, 
and  would  have  him  to  sleep  at  his  bed's 
foot ;  and  took  pleasure  in  him  to  want  him 
always  by  him.  And  this  ascendancy  of 
the  young  man's  was  never  altered  or 
diminished. 

The  state  of  Spain  was  such  as  I  have 
said  already,  that  all  the  nobility  was 
divided  into  bands  and  confederations, 
that  made  war  perpetual  upon  each  other 
and  upon  the  King,  but  for  the  most  part 
counted  the  King's  person  as  a  pledge  or 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

229 

pawn  of  power,  and  the  Seal  of  Castile 
as  the  lawful  prize  of  victory  in  the  field. 
The  character  of  King  John  was  such  that 
whomsoever  he  saw  in  presence  that  urged 
something  upon  him,  that  one  he  obeyed: 
of  this  the  Pledge  of  Tordesillas  is  the  case 
universally  known,   but  the  matter  was 
daily;  and  no  man  lived  secure,  howsoever 
great,  but  when  in  the  King's  company. 
Three   times   was   the   Constable  cut  off 
from  the  King's  presence  and  sent  abroad 
into  his  estates  and  three  times  he  came 
back  stronger  than  when  he  withdrew. 

The  only  charge  historians  had  against 
him,  even  those  most  opposite  in  the  fac- 
tions of  the  reign,  was  that  of  greediness 
in  heaping  up  honours  and  places,  and  the 
amassing  of  great  riches,  and  a  vast  follow- 
ing, and  without  distinction  of  great  and 
small,  so  that  the  same  day  that  the  king 
gave  him  (''or  more  truly,"  said  Fernan 
Perez  de  Guzman,  "he  took")  a  great  city 
or  dignity,  if  a  King's  lancer  fell  vacant, 
that  too  he  would  have:   notwithstanding 
that  none  was  ever  so  hardy  as  to  say  that 
he  kept  them  for  himself.    As  he  pardoned 

El  Seguro 
de  Tordesil- 
las 1448 

Con  armas 
sangre  y 
guerra,  con 
las  vidas  y 
famas  .  .  . 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

230 


Those  that 
ate  his 
bread 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


many  wrongs  against  himself,  so  he  reward- 
ed services  done  to  the  King.  With  no 
inheritance  of  land  or  feudatories,  his 
incessant  need  of  the  royal  countenance 
appears  in  the  roll  of  those  who  lived  by 
his,  those  that  were  of  his  household,  as 
the  Romances  tell — 

"  Cuatrocientos  sois  los  mios, 
los  que  comeis  mi  pan" — 

but  where  Fernan  Gonzalez  counted  four 
hundred  moss-troopers  of  those  that  ate 
his  bread,  in  the  Constable's  following  they 
were  great  lords  of  Spain:  to  read  the  roll 
of  them — counts,  prelates,  and  noble  men, 
and  many  lords  of  fortified  cities — is  to 
evoke  all  Spanish  history  for  three-quarters 
of  a  century;  and  his  houses  wherein  they 
lodged  and  lived  at  his  expense  without 
reckoning  castles  and  towns,  or  yet  the 
commanderies  of  the  Order,  were  situate  in 
all  the  capitals  and  most  principal  cities 
of  the  Castiles  and  Andalusia  and  the 
south,  from  Estremadura  to  the  Rioja  and 
throughout  the  north.     Quintals  of  fine 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

231 

gold  he  distributed  every  year  to  knights 
and  servants  of  his  person:  so  great  was  his 
liberality,  that  he  desired  all  should  have  a 
part  of  his  goods  and  thought  himself 
bom  not  for  himself  alone  but  for  all  the 
world.  Yet  none  taxed  him  with  prodi- 
gality though  all  men  praised  his  magnif- 
icence. The  archbishops  he  had  made, 
for  their  own  honour,  though  his  familiars, 
vvere  not  of  his  family;  but  he  gave  lodging, 
allowance  and  benefactions  to  eight  bishops 
at  the  least,  and  the  Master  of  Alcantara 
D.  Gutierre  de  Sotomayor. 

The  great  love  of  the  King  for  this 
strong  lover  of  his  would  seem  to  have  been, 
by  a  law  of  nature,  the  romantic  affection 
of  the  gentle  for  the  strong;  his  duty  to 
the  King  he  took  to  involve  the  care  of 
him  in  all  kinds,  even  in  his  use  of  God's 
creatures,  his  table  and  his  wife. 

By  necessity  the  Master  stood  alone, 
except  for  his  household  and  following,  for 
whosoever  would  have  tyrannized  the 
King  found  him  in  the  way.  Therefore  as 
the  Queen  Mother  had  sent  him  away  at 
the   commencement,    so   the   new   Queen 

This  is  the 

Loyal 

Servitor 

V.p.  173 

A  Queen's 
ingratitude 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

232 


The  fall  of 
the  Master 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


brought  about  his  ruin  at  the  close.  And 
because  fortune  is  a  jade,  it  was  in  the 
matter  of  the  King's  second  marriage  that 
the  tragic  error  entered  into  the  play  and 
D.  Alvaro  fetched  her  into  Castile  that 
should  put  him  out  thence. 

The  King  was  desirous  to  marry  the 
King  of  France's  daughter,  Madame 
Renee,  being  taken  by  report  of  her 
beauty  and  affability;  being  married  to 
the  Princess  of  Portugal,  Dona  Isabel,  he 
was  wont  to  say  that  though  he  was  mar- 
ried the  deed  was  the  Constable's,  and  from 
that  hour  was  remarked  a  notable  falling 
off  in  his  love,  notwithstanding  that  he 
came  to  dote  on  his  new  Queen,  and  she 
that  owed  all  to  the  Constable  contrived 
his  fall. 

The  fall  of  princes  is  no  new  thing  in  the 
world,  nor  did  Lydgate  and  Boccace 
rehearse  the  most  tragical  histories.  In 
the  thirty-two  years  that  the  Master  ruled 
the  kingdom,  he  had  served  his  King  and 
spared  his  enemies  and  now  the  ascendant 
was  overpassed.  A  strange  series  of  acci- 
dents fell  upon  him,  street  brawls  threat- 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

233 

ened  his  safety;   there  was  talk  of  retiring 
to  his  estates,  till  the  bad  weather  should 
blow  over,  but  his  pride  could  not  brook 
to  turn  his  back.    His  trusted  chamberlain 
Vivero,  whom  he  had  elevated  from  the 
dust  of  the  highways,  had  grown  to  so 
great  a  menace  that  when  justice  was  done 
on  him  in  the  end,  though  all  men  knew 
the  doer,  none  could  name  him.    In  Lent 
the  Master  had  recommended  Vivero  to 
see  to  his  confession:  on  Easter  Tuesday  in 
Burgos,  the  gate  of  the  Master's  lodging 
was  beaten  in  by  those  who  called  therii- 
selves  the  King's  men.     By  accident,  his 
son   D.   Pedro  had  been  wounded  in   a 
tourney    and    was    not    yet    healed;     by 
treachery  his  son  D.  Juan  was  withdrawn 
with  his  men  from  the  city.     Zuniga,  an 
ancient  enemy,  had  come  up  from  Plasencia 
to    do   the    business,    bringing   his    son's 
tutor,  Mosen  Diego  de  Valera,  to  see  that 
the  history  thereof  was  rightly  written. 
The  principal  companion  of  the  Master 
was  D.  Gonzalo  Chacon,  one  of  those  loyal 
and  noble  figures  that  history  can  often 
show  in  minor  places,  whose  name  men 

The  assault 
at  Burgos 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

234 


'  Swords 
may  not 
fight  with 
fate  .  .  . 


MILITARY    ORDERvS 


would  not  willingly  let  die.  By  his  influ- 
ence he  had  wrought  upon  the  Master, 
while  the  outer  gate  was  still  beset,  to  get 
away  disguised  into  safety,  but  he  turned 
and  came  back,  saying  he  had  rather  die 
with  his  servants  than  be  saved  crawling 
through  dark  hidden  drains  like  a  rogue  and 
a  worthless  man.  The  King  sent  a  safe- 
conduct  and  a  solemn  promise  to  see  him: 
and  broke  both.  Chacon  warned  him  that 
for  the  conquered  the  only  remedy  was 
to  expect  no  remedy.  He  answered  that 
he  could  not  die  in  strife  against  the  royal 
standard:  he  laid  up  papers  in  a  coffer  to 
be  committed  to  the  King's  hands,  he 
opened  and  distributed  three  chests  of 
money;  he  ate  a  last  supper  with  Chacon 
and  those  of  the  faithful,  he  gave  them 
sound  counsel  and  loving  words  as  of  one 
on  the  way  to  death.  He  sent  for  his  seals 
and  a  hammer  and  broke  them  up,  to  fore- 
stall any  shameful  act.  He  did  on  a 
harness  of  great  price,  a  gift  of  the  King 
of  France,  and  when  he  was  in  the  saddle 
of  a  great  charger  he  bid  open  the  gates. 
They  took  him  away  and  he  never  saw 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


the  King.  They  put  Chacon  and  the  others 
in  the  common  prison.  It  was  told  in  after 
years  that  they  kept  him  in  a  cage  at 
Portello.  Im.prisoned  he  was.  while  the 
mockery  of  a  court  was  held:  he  was  not 
present  or  represented  and  the  judgement 
of  that  court  could  never  be  found  again. 
By  June  he  knew  that  he  was  to  die  on 
the  scaffold,  in  Valladolid;  and  having 
made  his  peace  with  God,  like  the  martyrs 
of  the  early  ages  he  went  to  his  death  as 
to  a  banquet.  No  ignominy  was  spared: 
not  the  sack  for  the  head,  nor  the  tying  of 
his  hands  before  execution,  nor  the  body 
left  for  three  days  upon  the  scaffold,  nor  a 
plate  set  to  gather  alms  for  his  burial.  A 
huge  crowd  filled  the  square;  and  though 
the}^  came  as  folk  who  are  drawn  to  see  a 
spectacle,  when  the  moment  approached 
a  profound  and  ominous  silence  fell  upon 
them  and  when  the  executioner  held  up 
the  severed  head  they  gave  a  great  and 
terrible  cry — "so  dolorous,  so  sad  and  so 
grievous  a  wailing,"  says  the  chronicler, 
who  was  there,  "as  though  each  man  or 
woman  had  lost  his  own  father  or  some  one 


235 


Earth  still 
holds  ope 
her  gate... 


AND  MONOGRAPHS 


"And  one 
to  me 


are  shame 
and  fame" 


236 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

"But  we 
are  in  the 
calm  and 
proud 
procession 
of  eternal 
things" 

Portrait 

very    dear."      The    Bachellor    Cibdareal 
states  that  in  these  hours  the  King  was 
very  restless  and  wretched,  and  twice  he 
called  a  servant  and  gave  him  a  paper  to 
carry,  and  twice  he  checked  him  again  and 
said,  ''Let  be,  let  be!"    So  he  flung  him- 
self at  last  upon  his  bed  and  lay  there 
awhile  and  no  one  told  him  it  was  ended 
till  after  dinner. 

This  was  the  death  of  the  best  knight 
there  was  in  his  time  in  all  the  Spains  and 
the  best  lord  uncrowned,  the  good  Master 
of  Santiago. 

1 

His  personal  charm,  and  what  we  call 
distinction,  was  the  rarest  of  his  gifts,  as 
perhaps  it  was  the  most  potent:  one  recalls 
the  pains  at  which  are  the  speakers  in  the 
Book   of  the  Courtier  to  define  that  last 
flower  and  fragrance  of  the  perfect  gentle- 
man by  a  word  usually  translated  grace, 
"a  certain  virtue  or  perfection  above  other 
men." 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

Old  Portrait  of  Don  Alvaro  de  Luna 
from  his  chapel  in  Toledo 


IN     SPAIN 

237 

The  Constable  had  this,  whether  you 
consider  his  authority  when  he  sat,  his 
graceful  carriage  when  he  stood,  or  his 
measure  when  he  walked.  If  I  tell  you 
the  Master  was  very  humane  and  merry, 
how  shall  you  know  his  pleasant  and 
facetious  humour?  Or  his  gravity  at  the 
trial  of  great  deeds?  Or  his  repose  or 
mildness  when  he  was  set?  It  was  as 
though  the  remnant  of  the  excellency  of 
many  long  dead  in  him  was  preserved  as 
an  ensample;  and  who  could  be  rude  or 
common  for  whom  his  great  house  had  been 
the  school  of  magnanimity? 

As  a  poet  we  can  hardly  measure  him,  for 
the  same  fortune  that  scattered  his  goods, 
robbed  him  of  the  offspring  of  his  wit.  In 
Cancioneros  and  manuscripts  his  poems  lie 
still  ungarnered:  and  I  have  only  a  few 
to  show  as  pieces  in  the  courtly  mode  and 
the  fashion  of  the  age.  They  surpass 
others  of  their  kind  whether  by  Juan  de 
Mena  or  by  the  Marquis  of  Santillana,  in 
two  things:  in  an  apparent  passion  that 
even  yet  warms  and  lightens,  and  in  a 
pulse  or  colour  that  seems  not  so  much 

By  the 

Loyal 

Servitor 

Poet 

The  essence 
of  poetry 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

238 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

personal  emotion  as  the  sheer  luminous 

throb  that  is  pure  beauty. 

Because  the  English  reader  is  little  used 

Walsh's  is 
closer  and 
better 

to  the  intricate  concision  of  the  Castilian 

concept,  a  version  consciously  unworthy 

is  set  here. 

Since  all  love's  sighing 

His  grief  and  crying 

Has  known  no  stay; 

Since  ceaseless  praising 

And  ever  raising 

The  stake  I  play 

Opens  no  way 

For  what  I  pray 

"To  save 

And  long  for  ever, 

thee  from 

For  I  know  and  say 

the  blame 

I  have  less  to-day 

Than  when  first  a  lover! — 

Since  her  pride  unshaken 

My  joy  has  taken 

I — turned  to  dearth — 

Would  sooner,  forsaken 

Sleep,  and  not  waken. 

Under  the  earth ; 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN    SPAIN 

239 

Since  all  my  worth 
For  which  I  had  birth 

Is  to  feed  love's  fang, 
My  joy  henceforth 
And  my  only  mirth, 

Shall  be  in  the  pang! 

The  next  piece,  if  little  read,  yet  is  often 
cited  by  hearsay  as  carrying  extravagance 
rather  near  to  a  fantastical  blasphemy. 
Yet  it  is  because  the  Spaniard  has  always 
felt  himself  on  such  good  terms  with  God, 
that  he  could  take  such  liberties. 

If  God  our  Saviour  sweet 
Were  looking  for  a  love. 
He  would  be  my  rival  meet; 

So,  Lord,  I  long — by  token 

That  if  Thou  camest  from  high, 
For  love  of  her  to  try 

Tourneys  and  lances  broken. 

Though  Thou  wert  the  defender 
I  should  essay  the  emprize. 

And  though  Thou  wert  my  rival 
Thou  shouldst  not  bear  the  prize. 

Of  aU  my 
grief  and 
graemel" 

The 

Celestial 
rival 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

240 


In  heavenly 

likeness 

made 


MILITARY    ORDERS 


These  two  pieces  have  kept  the  rhyming 
of  the  original  and  something  not  too  unhke 
in  effect  to  the  measure.  But  because  the 
feeling  of  this  verse  is,  before  all  else,  of 
the  Renaissance,  the  remaining  two  are 
set  to  Elizabethan  airs:  and  if  perforce 
transposed  into  another  key,  yet  that  suits 
better  an  English  voice. 

Lord,  since  Thou  madest  me  love  beyond 
all  measure, 
Thou  sure  wilt  pardon  me 
If  I  forgetful  be 
Of  bounds  which  Thou  hast  set  to  mortal 
pleasure: 
Thou  saidst  mankind  should  love 
Thee  all  things  else  above 
Yet  gavest  to  man  the  sight  of  such  a 
treasure : 

A  lady  gracious  in  all  goodness,  stately, 
More  lovely  and  liberal  far 
Than  any  women  are 
Else  whom  Thou  madest :  and  whom  I 
love  so  greatly, 
With  love  incomparable. 
More  than  a  mind  can  tell; 
Thou  madest  her  in  Thy  likeness  ail- 
completely! 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN    SPAIN 

241 

Me  by  Thine  image,  Lord,  Thou  hast 
beguiled 
Even  in  her  sweet  dress 
ToloveThyhoHness: 
Whoso  conceived  that  figure  undefiled 
And  did  it  to  me  show, 
Is  cause  that  I  should  so 
Forget    Thee    a    while:     so    be    Thou 
reconciled. 

The  other  is  set  to  a  lovely  air  of  Cam- 
pion's: 

Always  I  was,  person  and  life,  professed 

Servant  of  one,  nameless  and  unconfessed. 

God's  was  the  deed  when  I  was  born  to 
love, 

For  His  was  the  intent  to  send  my  ser- 
vice and  approve. 

Lady,  be  kind  to  what  you  have  long 
possessed 

And  bring  me  soon  to  that  glad  hour  that 
may  not  be  confessed. 

When  the  Constable  was  wounded  once 
in  a  tourney,  the  poems  that  were  writ 
thereon  would  have  filled  a  folio,  but  only 
one  is  known  to  survive.    Juan  de  Mena's 

Lover's 
urgency 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

242 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

Very 

doleful 

ballads 

Magic  is 
here 

tribute  in  the  Labyrinth  was  written  before 
his  fall,  and  was  used  as  a  poetical  stake  on 
which  to  hang  an  elaborate  imitation  of 
Lucan.     The   Marquis   of   Santillana  la- 
mented   him    frigidly    and    composed    a 
long    discourse    on    Mutability    and    the 
Fragility  of  Favourites  and  the  Fall  of  the 
Proud,  which  is  not  so  much  unlike  as  one 
could  wish  to  the  five-and-thirty  ballads  on 
the  death  of  the  Master  collected  by  Duran 
in  the  Romancero  General.    In  the  popular 
imagination  he  had  a  place,  and  a  lament, 
and  lived  on;  he  was  such  another  as  My 
Cid,  and  like  him  gathered  marvels  about 
him.    The  long  episode  in  Juan  de  Mena's 
Trescientos  is  concerned  with  a  witch  and 
an  evocation  of  the  dead.    The  ridiculous 
document  that  was  drawn  up  twenty  years 
after  his  death  to  formulate  his  accusation, 
is  concerned  with  such  charges  as  that  he 
kept  a  familiar  spirit  in  a  bottle  for  con- 
sultation; that  he  had  enchanted  the  King 
with  a  ring  he  gav^e  him;   it  was  said  that 
he  bewitched  the  Queen  with  potions.    His 
tomb   in  Toledo,   erected  in  his   lifetime 
with  a  marvellous  effigy  of  bronze  that  rose 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


to  kneel  at  Mass  and  lay  down  again, 
working  by  such  a  hidden  mechanism  as 
Villard  de  Honnecourt  drew  out  in  diagram 
for  an  angel  to  turn  and  bow — this  effigy, 
though  it  was  destroyed  once  in  his  life- 
time by  his  enemy,  D.  Enrique  of  Aragon. 
then  Master  of  Santiago  and  in  arms 
against  the  King,  was  demolished  ulti- 
mately by  that  King's  daughter,  Isabel  the 
Catholic,  as  savouring  too  much  of  magic. 
The  Master  was  buried  in  the  vault  below 
his  chapel  and  his  wife  Dofia  Juana 
Pimentel  there  with  him 

"A  sacristan  once  penetrated  there," 
said  Parro  in  mid-nineteenth  century, 
"and  when  he  was  a  very  old  man  I 
talked  with  him,  and  he  said  the  dead 
sat  there  in  two  ancient  chairs  before  a 
table,  and  the  Master's  head  lay  on 
the  table." 

This  sounds  like  what  the  peasant  saw 
who  entered  the  cave  where  Barbarossa 
still  waits  though  his  beard  has  grown 
quite  through  the  stone  slab:  it  sounds 
like  what  is  told  of  Charlemagne  and 
Frederick  II.     It  is  possible  that  in  the 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


243 


and 
folklore 


244 


D.    Beltran 
de  la  Cueva 


M  ILITARY     ORDERS 


popular  imagination,  dimly  and  half  for- 
gotten, the  Master  also  waits  to  come 
forth  when  Spain  shall  know  her  need. 


I 


After  King  John  1 1 ,  th e  Infant  D .  Alfonso , 
and  King  Henry  IV,  had  all  been  adminis- 
trators of  the  Tvlastership  in  commission, 
D.  Beltran  de  la  Cueva,  by  the  King's 
wish,  became  Master.  He  married  Dofia 
Mencia  de  Mendoza,  the  younger  daughter 
of  D.  Diego  Hurtado  de  Mendoza,  Marquis 
of  Santillana  and  Count  of  the  Real  de 
Manzanares,  afterwards  Duque  del  Infan- 
tado;  and  the  grandees  of  Spain  were 
angry.  It  is  curious  that  no  portrait  of 
D.  Beltran  can  be  found  in  an  age  and 
country  much  given  to  the  analysis  of 
character  and  the  investigation  of  motives. 
The  delightful  book  of  Generations  and 
Semblances  ends  too  early  to  include  him, 
and  he  is  not  reckoned  among  the  Claros 
Varones.  One  thing  we  know  of  him 
surely,  that  his  love  never  failed  his  lord: 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

245 

whether  or  not  he  was  the  Queen's  lover, 
he  was  the  King's  faithful  friend.    When 
D.  Enrique  was  dead  he  served  the  Catholic 
Kings   both   in   the   Navarrese   war   and 
before  Granada:  his  name  figures  as  Duke 
of   Albuquerque,    among   those   of   other 
grandees  at  the  surrender  of  the  city.     His 
tomb ,  which  was  perhaps  erected  by  a  grand- 
daughter that  foimded  the  Convent  of  S. 
Anne   in   Cuellar  in   1572,   stood  in  the 
Church  of  S.  Francisco  there,  until  that 
was  destroyed.    Since  he  had  died,  full  of 
years,  more  than  two  generations  before, 
the  effigy  can  represent  no  more  than  a 
tradition :  traditional  he  moves  for  a  brief 
while  across  our  stage,  holding  the  Master- 
ship only  from  1462  till  at  the  King's  bid- 
ding he  renounced  it:   "as  a  loyal  servitor 
and  without  treason  or  aught  for  which  it 
should  be  taken  away."    This  was  in  1467, 
but  possibly  he  was   supplanted   earlier, 
for  Enriquez  del  Castillo  reckons  that  he 
held  the  Mastership  only  three  years. 

There  is,  however,  a  modem  study  by 
D.  Antonio  Rodriguez  Villa  from  which 
this  outline  may  be  transferred : 

The  King's 
good  lover 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

246 

xMILITARY     ORDERS 

Rodriguez 
Villa's 
summing  up 

Even  with  such  flecks  and  defects  as 
are  proper  to  all  mankind  and  character- 
istic of  his  epoch,  D.  Beltran  de  la  Cueva 
remains  still  the  most  gracious  and  admir- 
able figure  of  his  age;  the  accomplished 
and    charming    page,    the   gallant    and 
hardy    knight,    the    loyal    and    dutiful 
counsellor,  the  splendid  and  free-handed 
grandee,  and  above  all  the  consistently 
faithful  vassal,  ready  to  sacrifice  his  life 
and  his  interests  for  the  King. 

The  tourney  at  which  his  device  was  a 
golden    letter   that   corresponded   to   the 
Queen's  initial,  was  no  more  than  a  pretty 
compliment  to  his  King's  young  wife.    The 
"incurable  lightness"  of  Queen  Joan  was 
never  asserted  until  her  royal  daughter 
and  her  still-born  son  had  long  since  been 
recognized  as  legitimate  without  a  ques- 
tion.    In  later  years,  what  with  the  King's 
other  fancies  and  the  nobles'  studied  insults, 
she   had   excuse   if   not   justification   for 
taking  amusement  where  she  could  find 
it,  and  for  accepting  an  impassioned  loy- 
alty from  her  own  kinsman  that  gave  her 
shelter,  and  children,  and  a  brief  happi- 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


ness.  If  D.  Beltran  had  offered  her  more 
than  conventional  homage,  he  never  meant 
to  pass  beyond  the  courtly  code  of  loving 
par  amours,  and  was  indeed  not  a  little 
embarrassed  when  someone  suggested  the 
poor  lady's  seeking  a  refuge  with  him.  His 
passion  and  devotion  were  all  for  D. 
Enrique,  and  in  a  conscious  revival  of  the 
antique  manner  he  offered  them  where  they 
met  a  like  loyalty  and  affection.  ''The 
King  could  not  be  without  his  company, 
he  was  the  ornament  and  splendour  of  the 
court,  and  many  grandees  sought  his 
alliance  and  intermediation." 


I 


D.  Juan  Pacheco,  the  Marques  de 
Villena,  was  the  brother  of  the  Master  of 
Calatrava.  At  D.  Beltran 's  election  he 
had  cried  Oiit  Haro!  alleging  the  Master- 
ship to  belong  to  the  Prince  Alfonso,  the 
late  King's  son,  by  right;  now  when  D. 
Beltran  was  out  he  got  himself  elected 
without  leave  of  King  or  Pope  and  held 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


247 


D. Juan 
Pacheco 


248 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

Portrait  by 
Hernando 
del  Pulgar 

the    office    till    death — dying    almost    as 
strangely  as  his  brother,  D.  Pedro  Tellez 
Giron.      Hernando   Pulgar   admired   him 
hugely:  his  portrait,  in  the  Claros  Vurones, 
is  one  of  the  most  splendid,  as  rich  and 
vigorous   as  his  sumptuous   tomb   at   El 
Parral.    Pulgar  says: 

He  was  of  middle  height,  his  frame 
slender   and  well   shapen,   his   features 
beauteous,  and  a  lively  grace  present  in 
his  carriage.    His  speech  was  seemly  and 
abounding  in  reason,  without  superfluity 
of  words:   his  voice  shook  a  little  by  an 
infirmity  and  not  by  defect  of  Nature. 
fn  youth's  estate  he  had  the  wit  and 
authority  of  age.     He  showed  a  great 
ability  to  govern  in  all  temporalities:   of 
tlie  four  things  necessary  thereto— which 
are  a  piercing  jiidgement,  prudence,  and 
diligence,    and    long-suffering — he    had 
more  than  any  other  man  in  his  time. 
He   considered   well   the   quality    of    a 
business,   time,   place   and   person   and 
the  other  circumstances  which  prudence 
must  regard  in  the  regiment  of  things. 
His  judgement  pierced  so  into  persons 
that  with  little  discourse  he  knew  their 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


conditions  and  their  needs,  and  giving 
to  each  the  hope  of  his  desires,  attained 
often  to  what  himself  had  hoped.  He 
suffered  long,  that  no  ill  word  could 
move  him,  nor  ill  news  could  change  him; 
and  in  the  greatest  distinctions  of  things 
he  had  the  better  will  to  consider  and 
remedy  them.  He  was  such  a  man  as 
with  ripe  deliberation  used  to  determine 
what  was  to  be  done;  nor  ever  forced 
the  time,  but  forced  himself  to  wait  the 
time  to  do.  By  natural  condition  he 
seemed  a  tower  of  truth,  and  by  choice 
his  conversation  was  with  true  and  con- 
stant men;  although  such  as  would 
acquire  great  goods  and  honours,  and 
especially  such  as  understand  the  govern- 
ment of  great  things,  behove  at  times 
to  feign  and  disguise,  to  simulate  and 
dissimulate,  either  in  the  alterations  of 
season  or  the  variableness  of  business; 
and  either  to  escape  greater  hanns  or  to 
touch  greater  gains,  such  men  have  to 
make  alterations  in  affairs  as  time  shall 
admit.  [By  which  Hernando  del  Pulgar 
intends  treachery  and  changing  sides  as 
well  as  disloyalty  and  armed  rebellion.] 
He  had  sundry  friends  of  them  that  good 


249 


Longani- 
mity 


AND  MONOGRAPHS 


Macchi- 
avellian 
dissimula- 
tion 


250 


'Tis  wis- 
dom and 
that  high 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


fortune  brings  alone;  many  enemies 
likewise,  that  covetousness  of  another's 
weal  is  wont  to  breed,  who  planned  his 
death  and  destruction  and  indignation 
on  the  King  D.  John's  part,  and  the 
Prince's  his  son  whom  he  served;  not- 
withstanding that  divers  times  this  came 
to  the  point  of  execution,  yet  by  chances 
unguessed  and  most  admired  he  escaped 
out  of  the  snares  of  death  that  many 
times  were  laid  for  him.  He  was  a  brave 
man,  and  when  need  was  he  showed  him- 
self an  hardy:  wise  and  temperate  in 
eating  and  drinking,  he  seemed  immod- 
erately given  up  to  women,  by  the  many 
sons  and  daughters  he  had  besides  the 
legitimate. 

After  praising  his  judicious  liberality  and 
the  immense  property  that  he  acquired, 
Pulgar  passes  to  his  humanity,  so  that  he 
condemned  none  to  death  on  his  own 
account  and  but  few  in  justice,  and  his 
indifference  to  vengeance,  being  wont  to 
say  that  the  man  who  broods  torments 
himself  rather  than  harms  another. 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

251 

However  great   a   quarrel   he   might 
enter  into,  he  seldom  broke  into  speech 
and  less  into  action,  but  arranged  rather 
a  reconciliation  of  differences,  feeling  a 
sure  peace  better  than  uncertain  victory. 
He  liked  not  to  trust,  to  the  fortune  of 
an  hour,  all  acquired  in  life  past:   so  by 
long-suffering  and  abiding  the  time,  he 
augmented  his  honour  and  increased  his 
goods. 

D.  Enrique  as  prince  had  loved  him  well: 
he  took  up  the  side  of  D.  Alfonso,  the 
King's  young  brother,  and  was  of  the  party 
that  crowned  him  in  Avila;  then  at  the  last 
came  back  to  allegiance  and  held  the  King 
at  his  command.  The  phrase  of  Enriquez 
del  Castillo  is:  "After  the  Master  D.  Juan 
Pacheco  and  the  other  tyrants  of  his  party 
had  seized  the  city  of  Segovia."  The  faith- 
ful chaplain,  by  the  way,  qualifies  the  Mas- 
ter as  a  quite  marvellous  liar,  and  cites  his 
"vain  words  and  but  few  true  ones." 

About  this  time  his  son-in-law.  the  Count 
of  Benavente,  to  whom  King  Henry  had 
promised  the  Mastership,  lay  for  him. 
So  it  was — this  is  in  Segovia  still — 

for  men  to 
use  their 
fortune  rev- 
erently" 

Enriquez 
del  Castillo 
sees  him 
otherwise 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

252 

MILITARY    ORDERS 

Assassina- 
tion frus- 
trated 

that  the  Master  D.  Juan  Pacheco  being 
in  the  Palace  of  the  Prince  talking  with 
the  Infanta  Dona  Isabel,  the  Count  with 
certain  of  his  knights  well  armed  came 
to  the  place  to  execute  his  intent  when  his 
father-in-law  should  come  out.    And  if 
he  had  not  been  advised  thereof,  doubt- 
less he  would  have  slain  him  there,  but  he 
came  so  quickly  from  the  room  that  those 
watching  could  not  lay  hands  on  him_,  nor 
had  time  to,  so  he  escaped  and  came  out 
whole  from  amongst  them,  but  thereafter 
he  went  always  cautiously,  with  plenty  of 
folk  to  guard  his   person   and   always 
armed  with  secret  arms  and  on  horseback. 
And  although  thereafter  the  Count  of 
Benavente,    dissimulating,    spake    with 
him,  always  he  had  that  rancour  gnawing 
in  his  entrails,  seeking  and  waiting  a 
time  to  take  vengeance. 

But  the  Master  was  wary  and  the  Count 
went  home. 

Either  his  life  was  more  hazardous  than 
most  men's  or  his  biographies  were  more 
picturesque.  Enriquez  del  Castillo  indeed 
knows  how  to  tell  a  good  tale;  take  for 
instance  this: 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

253 

The  King  went  on  his  way  to  the  town 
of  Osuna;   arriving  there  he  determined 
to  go  to  Jaen  and  sent  on  thither  his 
chamberlains.    And  as  the  Constable,  D. 
Miguel  Lucas  de  Iranzo,  held  that  city 
for  the  King,  and  had  ever  been  loyal 
and  faithful  in  his  service,  when  he  saw 
the  chamberlains  and  read  the  letter  that 
the  King  sent,  he  answered  that  this  his 
loyal  city  of  Jaen  had  always  been  and 
should  be  at  his  service,  and  that  of  his 
Highness 's  coming  they  were  not  only 
glad  and  well  content,  but  wishful  to 
see  his  Royal  Excellency,  so  he  and  all 
the  place  conjointly  begged  him  to  come 
straightway  to  his  city  with  his  loyal 
servitors;   but  that  they  prayed  him  of 
his  grace  and  asked  with  all  humility 
that  he  should  not  bring  with  him  the 
traitors  who  had  so  foully  dishonoured 
him  and  persecuted,  for  in  no  wise  would 
they  be  received  there;  and  this  he  said 
of  the  Master   D.   Juan  Pacheco  and 
divers  others  of  those  who  came  with  his 
Highness.     Then  the  Master,  when  he 
heard  the  Constable's  answer,  said  he 
would  wait  in  Osuna  and  the  King  went 
on  to  Jaen.     When  he  got  there,  the 

A  tale  of 
the  Consta- 
ble at 
Osuna 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

254 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

who  would 
not  harbour 
traitors 

Constable  came  out  to  meet  him  with 
many  horsemen.    And  at  entering  into 
the  city  he  placed  himself  within  the 
gate  and  as  the  King  entered  he  said  to 
the  Bishop  of  Sigiienza:  "Come in, loyal 
prelate  deserving  of  much  honour;    for 
you  and  your  line  have  served  the  King 
my  lord  always  and  followed  him,  like 
noble  men  of  blood  untainted."     And 
behind,  he  let  the  counsellors  pass  in 
and  the  servants  of  the  King,  and  as 
Roderick  of  Ulloa  addressed  himself  to 
pass,  he  set  the  front  of  his  lance  against 
his  breast,  saying:   **Stay  out,  Roderick 
of  Ulloa,  for  the  city  of  Jaen  is  not  used 
to  welcoming  traitors,  but  only  such  men 
as  are  loyal  to  the  King,  my  lord,"  and  so 
shamefully  the  gate  was  shut  in  his  face 
and  he  was  left  outside.    And  then  he 
took  the  King  right  gladly  and  took  him 
to  lodging  in  his  house  in  the  joyfullest 
guise  he  could;   and  all  the  others  were 
well  lodged,  and  the  King  lay  there  a 
week  right  well   pleased.     But  as   the 
Master  D.  Juan  Pacheco  still  ruled  him, 
when  the  Master  sent  for  him,  the  King 
went  back  from  Jaen  to  Osuna. 

At  last  he  came  to  die.    It  was  1474  now. 

HISPANIC     NOTES 

IN    SPAIN 


He  was  at  S.  Cruz,  in  the  west,  arranging 
a  Portuguese  marriage  for  the  Princess 
Joan,  and  trying  to  get  his  hand  on  the 
city  of  Trujillo,  when  the  same  malady 
struck  him  that  had  slain  his  brother,  an 
imposthume  of  the  throat,  and  he  vomited 
blood  and  so  died.  But  his  men  hid  his 
death  and  set  him  in  a  chair,  darkening 
the  room,  and  the  Alcayde  surrendered 
the  stronghold  to  the  dead  man. 

He  had  resigned  the  Mastership  to  his 
son,  and  the  trezes  and  most  of  the  knights 
""had  approved,  too,  perforce,  but  before  the 
Bull  could  come  from  Rome,  King  Henry 
died,  and  D.  Diego  Lopez  Pacheco  could 
not  hold  what  he  had.  He  remained  loyal, 
notwithstanding,  to  the  Princess. 


I 


D.  Enrique  IV  was  now  dead,  having  in 
his  last  hour  declared  that  the  excellent 
Lady  Dona  Juana  was  his  daughter  and 
his  heiress — so  the  impartial  historians 
believe.  These  are  not  the  contemporary 
ones,  as  may  be  well  understood,  for  it  was 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


255 


A  strange 
and  sudden 
malady 


Contem- 
porary 
history  not 
impartial 


256 


with  the 
reigning 
dynasty  to 
propitiate 


God's 

judgement 
and    the 

ev^'ent  of 
history 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


in  the  reign  of  the  Princess  Isabel,  his  sister 
that  they  had  to  write,  and  they  had  indeed 
been  of  her  faction  long  before.  Alonso  de 
Palencia  spent  a  diligent  life  in  her  service 
and  praise,  and  did  as  much  as  any  man 
uncrowned  to  put  through  her  marriage 
with  Ferdinand  of  Aragon.  Hernando  de 
Pulgar  was  titular  Chronicler  to  the  Catho 
lie  Kings,  and  as  careful  in  their  interest  as 
Pero  Lopez  de  Ayala  in  that  of  Enrique  II. 
King  Henry's  chaplain,  Diego  Enriquez  del 
Castillo,  suffered  much  for  his  loyalty  dur- 
ing his  master's  life  and  afterwards;  he 
was  seized  once  at  Segovia  and  his  papers 
taken  away:  long  after  he  had  to  write 
a  piteous  letter  to  Queen  Isabel  entreating 
that  the  money  yet  owing  to  him  as  salary 
might  be  paid. 

Three-quarters  of  a  century  ago  Dozy 
pointed  out  that  early  Spanish  churchmen 
had  blackened  the  character  of  the  Visi- 
gothic  kings  in  the  eighth  century  to  save 
the  case  for  God's  justice.  If  misfortunes 
so  terrible  befell  them  and  overwhelmed 
Spain  they  must  have  been  abominable 
so  to  bring  them  down.     Pero  Lopez  de 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

257 

Ayala  in  the  fourteenth  century,  in  rebel- 
Hon   against  his  natural  lord   and  king, 
Peter  I,  set  out  to  show  that  he  too  was 
deserving  of  God's  judgement,  and  that 
the  line  of  New  Kings  was  God's  punish- 
ment for  the  sins  of  the  Old.    Now  a  third 
time  in  the  fifteenth,  the  historians  of  the 
stronger  battalhons  construct  their  case  for 
God  and  depict  the  establishment  of  the 
CathoUc  Kings  as  though  the  sun  were  ris- 
ing upon  the  earth  after  another  destruc- 
tion of  Sodom. 

Whether  Enrique  IV  was  really  all  that 
he  was  called  is  mightily  to  be  doubted. 
He  has  been  made  out  a  sort  of  preliminary 
study   for   the   invariable   protagonist   of 
J.  K.  Huysmans'  novels,  but  it  is  more 
probable  that  he  was  only  such  another 
as  the  English  Edward  II,  though  he  wanted 
a    Marlowe:    fantastical    and    unhappy, 
wayward  and  ennuye,  corrupt  and  wanton, 
who  wore  his  shame  like  purple  with  the 
pitiful  effrontery  of  the  helpless. 

1 

Character 
of  Enrique 
IV 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

258 


The 

Catholic 
Kingswould 
be  perpetual 
administra' 
tors  of  the 
Orders 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


Coplas 

de 

Manriqtie 


As  Princes,  Ferdinand  and  Isabel  had 
begged  the  Pope  to  appoint  them  adminis- 
trators: as  Kings  they  asked  it  again  and 
the  Pope  gave  them  the  place  to  continue 
at  his  pleasure.  Notwithstanding,  the 
Prior  of  S.  Marcos  called  a  chapter  and 
elected  D.  Alonso  de  Cardenas,  and  the 
Prior  of  Ucles  did  the  like  and  elected  D 
Rodrigo  Manrique,  him  for  whom  his 
son  George  made  the  coplas.  He  was  a 
good  knight. 

He  left  no  well-filled  treasury. 
He  heaped  no  pile  of  riches  high, 

Nor  massive  plate; 
He  fought  the  Moors,  and  in  their  fall 
City  and  tower  and  castle  wall 

Were  his  estate 

And  if  of  old  his  walls  displayed 
The  honoured  and  exalted  grade 

His  worth  had  gained. 
So  in  the  dark  disastrous  hour. 
Brothers  and  bondsmen  of  his  power 

His  hand  sustained. 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN    SPAIN 


After  high  deeds,  not  left  untold, 
In  the  stern  warfare  which  of  old 

'T  was  his  to  share 
Such  noble  leagues  he  made  that  more 
And  fairer  regions  than  before 

His  guerdon  were. 

These  are  the  records  half  effaced, 
Which  with  the  hand  of  youth  he  traced 

On  historj'-'s  page; 
But  with  fresh  victories  he  drew 
Each  fading  character  anew 

In  his  old  age 

By  the  tried  valour  of  his  hand 
His  monarch  and  his  native  land 

Were  nobly  served; 
Let  Portugal  repeat  the  story, 
And  proud  Castile,  who  shared  the  glory 

His  arms  deserved  .... 

Mosen  Diego  de  Valera  devotes  a  couple 
of  diverting  chapters  to  the  contention 
for  the  Mastership  at  Pacheco's  death,  but 
he  rises  to  a  fine  phrase  where  he  admits 
that  "not  for  that  did  the  great  spirit  of 
D.  Rodrigo  Manrique,  who  called  himself 
the  Master  of  Santiago,  leave  off  the  under- 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


259 


Longfel- 
low's 
version 


260 


The  last 
Master,  and 
forty-first 


was  elected 
in  spite  ot 
the  Queen's 
great  ride 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


taking  once  begun,  though  the  King  and  the 
Archbishop  of  Toledo  willed  otherwise." 

D.  Alonso  de  Cardenas  is  reckoned  the 
last  ]M aster:  he  served  the  Catholic  Kings 
very  loyally,  raiding  Portugal  and  then 
when  Manrique  was  dead  he  "came  in,"  he 
and  his  men.  He  needed  to  be  elected 
cleanly  according  to  the  constitutions  of 
the  Order,  and  with  the  consent  of  the  King 
and  Queen,  as  was  the  custom  in  Castile. 
Dona  Isabel  rode  in  three  days  from  Valla- 
dolid  to  Ucles;  gathered  those  of  the  habit 
of  Santiago  and  bid  them  suspend  the  elec- 
tion as  Royalty  wished  the  Order  to  stay 
in  commission:  so  he  went  on  raiding  Por- 
tugal and  arguing  with  the  Kings.  They 
yielded  at  last,  but  he  had  to  pay  a  great 
sum  to  be  used  nominally  for  the  building 
and  maintenance  of  castles  on  the  frontier 
of  Granada.  Thereafter  great  exploits 
followed  and  the  battle  of  Albuhera,  the 
retaking  of  Merida,  and  the  war  of  the 
Axerquia. 

Near  Antequera,  in  some  villages,  they 
were  hard  beset,  the  horsemen  got  among 
gullies  and  valleys  and  the  Moors  sallied 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


out  from  the  castle  and,  themselves 
untouched,  killed  the  Christians  with 
stones  and  arrows.  Then  said  the  Master: 
''Let  us  die  making  a  road  with  our  hearts 
since  we  cannot  with  oiu*  arms,  and  not  die 
so  dully.  Come  up  this  hill  like  men  and 
lie  not  bogged  to  await  death."  But  they 
did  not  know  the  ground  and  the  Moors 
cut  them  in  two  and  killed  many;  some 
got  off  by  rough  ways.  This  was  in  1483. 
In  1499  he  died.  Ferdinand  and  Isabel 
got  the  Bull  they  wanted,  then  Charles  V 
got  one  and  in  his  time  the  Pope  annexed 
the  Mastership  in  perpetuity  to  the  Royal 
Crown  of  Castile  and  Leon. 

At  least  the  last  Master  was  a  gallant 
knight,  and  the  last  years  of  the  Order  were 
bright  with  panoply  and  plume  and  ringing 
with  clash  of  arms  and  drum-beat: 

Las  justas  e  los  torneos, 
paramentos,  bordaduras, 
e  cimeras  .... 

Like  April  sun  they  breathed  away  and 
were  no  more.    But  the  name  lived  on,  and 


AND     M ONOGRAPHS 


261 


TiU  1499 
he  ruled 


262 


The 
Son  of 
Thunder 


Apologia 


M  ILITARY     ORDERS 


to  the  conquest  of  the  Americas  the  Breth- 
ren of  S.  James  carried  the  ruddy  sword 
and  the  cockle  shell,  and  S.  James,  the  Son 
of  Thunder,  was  known  by  aborigines  as 
the  lightning's  child. 


For  the  Spanish  policy  of  the  Catholic 
Kings  there  is  more  to  be  said  than  space 
affords  here,  even  though  if  necessary  it 
might  still  be  granted  that  Isabel's  reli- 
gious passion  was  tinged  with  the  madness 
that  possessed  her  mother  and  that  she 
transmitted  to  her  daughter;  nay  more, 
that  Ferdinand  was  the  same  bogy  at  home 
as  abroad,  the  sinister  figure  that  looms 
in  the  background  of  //  Principe.  JMacchia- 
velli  wrote  a  treatise  on  how  to  make  a 
strong  state  at  the  expense  of  your  soul. 
Ferdinand  illustrated  it.    Spain  was  strong. 

In  the  two  centuries  since  Ferdinand  III 
took  Seville  the  great  houses  had  come  up 
and  they  were  stronger  than  the  throne. 
For  each  reign  history  offered  only  three 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 


chances:  the  nobles  could  be  kept  busy 
against  the  Moors,  or  they  could  be  left 
to  tear  the  land  to  pieces,  or  they  could 
be  broken.  Alfonso  XI,  for  instance,  tried 
the  first  and  succeeded:  Peter,  his  son, 
tired  the  last  and  failed.  In  the  reign  of 
John  II  the  Constable  could  not  prevent 
the  second:  it  went  on  in  the  reign  of  his 
son  Henry.  After  Granada  fell  there  were 
no  more  Moors.  The  Catholic  Kings  broke 
the  great  nobles  and  the  great  convents, 
and  the  land  had  rest. 

The  peasant  stepping  down  the  red  fur- 
row behind  his  yoke  of  brown  oxen,  the 
spectacled  merchant  leaning  above  his 
painfully  amassed  spoils  of  eastern  traffic 
spread  brilHant  on  the  board  at  the  shop 
front,  tasted  security.  The  flush  of  sunset 
faded  from  chivalry;  the  defence  of  Spain 
had  ended  and  conquest  had  begun.  Queen 
Isabel's  breach  of  faith  with  the  last  Moors 
down  by  Granada,  like  Queen  Constance's 
with  the  first  Moors  up  in  Toledo,  is 
justified  by  history  if  the  course  of  things 
can  justify  what  outrages  the  spirit.  So 
was  the  expulsion  of  the  Jews:    so  was, 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


263 


Alterna- 
tives 


1.  war 

2.  discord 

3.  absolu- 
tism 


264 


The 

course  of 
things  runs 
counter  to 
the  spirit 


To  "wage 
God's 
battles  in 
the  long 
grey 
ships  .  .  " 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


presently,  the  expulsion  of  the  Moriscoes. 
It  is  vain  as  well  as  hypocritical  to  lay  the 
exhaustion  of  a  country  bled  white  by  its 
colonies  to  the  application,  four  hundred 
years  ago,  of  a  policy  that  western  Europe 
is  now  in  a  frenzy  of  applying.  Why  not 
layit  to  the  Inquisition,  or  the  orange  trade 
of  Florida,  or  the  Argentine  wheat?  We 
may  not  be  sanctimonious  until  we  wash 
out  our  own  cup  and  platter  and  clean  out 
from  our  sepulchres  the  dead  men's  bones. 
In  a  sense,  everything  in  history  is  the 
cause  of  everything  after,  but  that  proposi- 
tion is  as  general  as  gravitation  and  some- 
what more  irrelevant. 

Spain  took  up  in  the  seventeenth  century 
the  White  Man's  burden,  the  same  charge 
that  England  assumed  in  the  nineteenth. 
To  the  honest  observer,  between  America 
and  India,  in  their  respective  centuries,  no 
difference  will  be  apparent.  Gomara  and 
Kipling  sing  to  the  same  tune.  Spain  was 
the  earliest  country  in  modem  Europe  to 
undertake  colonies:  so  she  was  the  first 
to  feel  exhaustion.  The  lesson  learned,  she 
has  withdrawn  the  first. 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

265 

The  story  of  the  Conquistadores  is,  in 
the  familiar  phrase,  another  story.  They 
were,  many  of  them,  nearly  all  of  the  great- 
est, knights  and  commanders  in  the  Orders, 
but  their  greatness  lay  elsewhere,  and  these 
titles  were  now  no  different  from  others. 
So  also  were  many  good  and  great  soldiers 
in  the  Italian  wars,  as  later  in  those  of 
Flanders.  The  Gran  Capitan  was  a  Knight 
of  Santiago:  Caro  de  Torres  devotes 
forty-six  folio  pages  to  the  Orders  in  the 
Italian  campaigns.  Ferdinand  the  Catholic 
paid  for  service  in  the  Neapolitan  wars — 
says  La  Fuente,  quoting — with  habits  and 
crosses,  which  brought  these  into  disrepute. 
The  proofs  of  nobility  were  exacted  with 
increasing  strictness:  we  remember  what 
pains  one  Sevillian  gentleman  took  to 
prove  his  limpieza  Castilian  and  Portu- 
guese, and  to  show  that  he  had  exercised 
the  art  of  painting  only  as  a  genteel  pastime 
and  never  professionally.  His  name  was 
D.  Diego  de  Silva  y  Velazquez. 

"The  Orders  were  used  by  the  Emperor 
in  suppressing  the  violent  commotion  of 
the  Communities  of  Castile"  records  Uhagon 

The  Con- 
quistadores 

Soldiers  in 
Italy  and 
Flanders 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

266 


and 
in  the 
rising  of 
the  Com- 
munities 


Velazquez 

and 

Calder6n 


MILITARY     O  R  D  E  R  vS 


with  some  unction,  and  goes  on,  with  rehsh. 
to  relate  how  the  Comendador  of  Biedma, 
D.  Alonso  de  la  Cueva  y  Benavides,  before 
the  last  battle  swore  by  God  and  his  cross 
to  seek  out  Juan  de  Padilla.  He  kept  the 
oath  and  took  him  prisoner,  snatching  the 
gtiion  from  him  and  taking  his  arms,  and 
then  turned  him  over  to  the  governors  of 
the  realm — which  means  presumably  Charles 
V's  Flemings.  Not  always  did  the  six- 
teenth century  feel  so  compliantly:  the 
Count  of  Benavente  had  sent  back  to 
Charles  V  the  Golden  Fleece,  saying  that 
he  wanted  no  Burgundian  insignia  when  in 
Castile  there  were  others  much  older  and 
more  honourable  in  the  crosses  of  the 
Orders,  under  whose  holy  protection  his 
ancestors  had  fought  against  the  infidel 
and  conquered  the  kingdoms. 

Those  crosses,  we  may  remember,  were 
worn  as  precious  jewels  by  the  shining 
lights  of  Spanish  letters:  if  not,  as  long 
believed,  by  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  yet  by 
Alonso  de  Ercilla  the  friend  of  Greco,  by 
Francisco  de  Quevedo,  and  Calderon  de  la 
Barca,  and  many  a  lesser  but  still  limiinous 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

267 

star:  and  hagiography  can  count  up  its 
half-dozen  or  more  of  the  blessed  and  the 
sainted.  S.  Domingo  de  Guzman  himself 
began  as  a  conventual /r 6 v/^"  of  Ucles. 

That  Philip  IV  called  out  the  Order 
against  the  insurgents  in  Catalonia,  is 
reckoned  by  a  Spanish  historian  among  his 
gravest  sins.  But  indeed  for  what  they 
could  be  used  was  a  hard  question,  now 
that  not  a  Moor  was  left  in  Spain.  Cis- 
neros  when  he  took  Oran  offered  to  trans- 
port them  to  Africa  and  give  them  con- 
vents and  churches  and  allow  them  all  of 
Africa  that  they  could  conquer:  if  he 
might  have  had  his  way,  the  lot  of  Africa 
would  be  happier  perhaps  to-day.  But  the 
event  of  history  was  against  his  intention 
and  they  went,  instead,  to  America;  but 
not  corporately. 

Estremadura  supplied  the  greatest  of 
those  conquerors  and  the  Order  of  Santiago 
counts  their  names.    Says  Caro  de  Torres: 

The  war  of  Granada  being  ended  with 
so  much  honour  and  advantage  to  all 
Spain,  and  the  lordship  of  the  Moors 

Africa 
offered 

America 
found 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

268 

MILITARY     ORDERvS 

"Such  were 
these  men, 
worthy  of 
their 
country 

expelled  from  the  land,  after  so  many 
years,  the  Catholic  Kings  turned  their 
knights  to  new  enterprises  greater  and 
more  glorious  than  the  past,  all  directed 
to  the  exaltation  of  the  Christian  religion, 
that    their    vassals    should    show    their 
strength  and  use  it  in  foreign  lands  and 
kingdoms,  in  Italy,  France  and  Barbary 
and  the  farthest  ends  of  the  earth,  that 
from  stmrise  to  sunset  there  should  be  no 
spot  where  the  trophies  and  blazons  of 
their  victories  were  not  set  up.     The 
enterprise  most  memorable  of  the  great- 
est honour  and  advantage  that  was  ever 
undertaken  in  Spain  was  the  discovery 
of  the  West  Indies  that  are  called  the 
New  World. 

One  of  these  was  Vasco   Nunez  de 
Balboa  of  Badajoz,  a  man  of  great  heart: 
in   1513  he  saw  the  Isthmus,  and  the 
Catholic   Kings   gave  him  the  title  of 
Warden  of  the  Southern  Sea.    Hernando 
Cortes, a  Knight  of  the  Order  of  Santiago, 
in  1520  took  Montezuma  in  his  palace: 
he  was  the  son  of  Martin  Cortes  de 
Monroy  and  of  Dofia  Catalina  Pizarro 
of  Altamura,  descended  of  the  lineage  in 
Aragon  of  the  Count  of  Molina,  ricos 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 

269 

omes.      Francisco    Pizarro    of    Trujillo. 
when  he  had  decided  to  go  to  the  con- 
quest of  the  southern  sea,  drew  a  Hne 
with  his  sword's  point  as  the  term  of 
immense  labours  necessary  for  the  con- 
quest, and  invited  those  who  would  to 
cross  it  with  him:    only  thirteen  did. 
When  he  went  home  he  gathered  his 
goods  and  his  elder  brother  Hernando, 
and  twice  more  he  returned,  but  he  died 
by  the  conspiracy  of  Almagro. 

They  all  died,  somewhere,  in  the  end. 
and  their  bones  are  not  laid  up  any  more  in 
the   convents   and   castles   of  the  Order, 
the  Cloister  at  Ucles  or  the  Church  at 
Alcantara,  but  in  far-ofif  lands.  They  were 
well  content.    Caro  de  Torres  says  again: 

One  of  the  principal  parts  of  the  His- 
tory of  the  Military  Order,  which  most 
touches  them,  is  the  conquest  of  the  rich 
and  great  kingdoms  of  Mexico  and  Peru, 
because  their  captains,  general  and  con- 
querors    were     D.     Fernando     Cortes, 
D.    Francisco    Pizarro,    D.    Hernando 
Pizaro,  of  the  Order    of    the  Lord  S. 

for  you  that 
remain, 
pray  for 
a  safer 
fortune." 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

270 


'True 
valour  doth 
her  own 
renown 
command 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


Tempering 
the  spirit  of 
man 


James,  because  so  many  times  they  saw 
the  glorious  apostle  fighting  in  these 
conquests  in  defence  of  the  Christians. 

My  friend  Bernal  Diaz  misdoubts  the  latter 
statement,  and  fully  contradicts  Gomara's 
Apparitions,  but  the  glory  was  there  and 
he  saw  that.  In  this  age  still,  as  in  the 
mediaeval,  riches  were  coveted  but  as  the 
way  to  power  and  not  power  as  the  way  to 
wealth:  greatness  was  the  end  and  gold 
was  but  the  means.  So  success  was  prized 
for  the  sake  of  gloiy  and  energy  was  only 
the  manifestation  of  passion. 

Therein,  it  had  the  advantage  of  ours. 
The  institution  of  the  three  Military  Orders 
in  Castile  had  been  a  great  instrument,  not 
merely  for  the  shaping  and  defence  of  a 
secure  empire,  but  for  the  forging  and  tem- 
pering of  the  spirit  of  man. 

The  tradition  of  a  great  past  was  there 
to  fall  back  upon  and  what  we  call  ''morale' ' 
was  fostered  by  all  the  conditions  of  life 
and  organization,  but  these  enforced  also — 
and  thereby  checked  the  dangers  of  bru- 
tality and  pride — the  religious  obligation 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


TN     SPAIN 


of  obedience  and  brotherhood.  It  is  as 
hard  for  us  to-day  to  understand  in  Isabel, 
and  Cisneros,  and  their  knights  and  con- 
querors, the  passionate  need  to  convert 
all  men  to  the  faith  of  the  Cross,  as  to 
understand  the  actual  democracy  of  human 
relations  to-day  in  Spain:  but  it  was  there 
and  it  must  be  reckoned  with.  It  goaded 
men  like  the  sight  of  a  body's  agony.  The 
doctrine  of  "invincible  ignorance"  was  to 
be  invented  later,  that  men  might  live  in 
peace  together  and  sleep  o'  nights  without 
dreams  of  those  who  unless  converted 
would  surely  burn  in  hell.  It  is  a  conse- 
quence of  the  Spanish  trait  of  realism, 
famous  in  literature  and  almost  as  active 
in  life,  that  what  a  man  sustained  he  was 
prepared  to  prove  to  the  bitter  end,  and 
what  he  believed  to  be  so  he  was  aware  of 
in  his  own  flesh,  whether  it  were  the  doc- 
trine of  stoicism  or  the  dogma  of  hell. 

The  passion  to  save  illimiinated  men's 
lives.  That  passion  burned  above  the 
wilderness  and  beyond  the  moimtain-tops 
of  the  New  World  and  purified  the  breast 
of  even  the  sorriest  and  most  hardened 


271 


"Those  to 
whom  the 
miseries  of 
the 
world    .  . 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


are  misery 
and  will  not 
let  them 
rest" 


272 

MILITARY     ORDERS 

Envoy 

adventurer.     It  is  a  glory  about  the  ending 
of  the  Orders,  and  a  faint  glow  yet  lingers 
in  tlie  shabby  little  pages  of  Otaiies'  Manual 
of  the  Ceremonies  at  Receiving  the  Habit 
of  Calatrava,  printed  in  1785,  at  Pueblo  de 
los  Angeles,  in  New  Spain. 

1 

Children  of  the  northern  seas,   reared 
under  northern  stars,  we  too  have  kindled 
to  our  conquests  and  suffered  our  disillu- 
sionment.    The  northern  race  has  been 
tried  out  and  found  wanting  and  for  hope 
we   turn   to   the   Mediterranean,    as   our 
fathers  turned,  belike  six  millenniums  ago. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

IN     SPAIN 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

Cronica  de  las  tres  Ordenes  y  Cavallerias 
de  Santiago,  Calatrava  y  Alcantara:  en  la 
qual  se  trata  de  su  origen  y  successo,  y  nota- 
bles hechos  en  armas  de  los  Maestres  y 
Cavalleros  de  ellas:  y  de  muchos  Senores 
de  Titulo  y  otros  Nobles  que  descienden  de 
los  Maestres:  y  de  muchos  otros  Linajes  de 
Espafia.  Compuesta  por  el  Licenciado  Frey 
Francisco  de  Radea^  Andrada  Capellan  de 
su  Magesdad,  de  la  ~nr3en~3e  Calatrava. 
Impressa  con  Licencia  en  Toledo,  en  casa  de 
Juan  de  Ayala,  Ano  1572. 

Historia  de  las  Ordenes  Militares  de  San- 
tiago, Calatrava,  y  Alcantara  desde  su  fun- 
dacion  hasta  el  Rey  D.  Felipe  Segundo, 
Administrator  perpetuo  dellas.  Ordenada  por 
el  Licenciado  Francisco  Caro  de  Torres 
con  acuerdo  de  los  Senores  ael  Consejo  Real 
de  las  Ordenes;  Siendo  comisso  D.  Fernando 
Pizarro  de  Orellana  Cavallero  del  Orden  de 
Calatrava  Comendador  de  Viltera  del  mismo 

Consejo En  Madrid,  por  Juan  Gon- 

galez,  1629. 

Formulario  Manual  de  las  Ceremonias  que 
se  practican  para  recibir  el  Abito  de  la  Inclita 
Militar  Orden  de  Calatrava  aprobada  y  con- 
firmada  por  la  Sandidad  de  Alexandro  Ter- 
cero,  en  veintycinco  de  Septiembre  de  mil 
ciento  sesentyquatro.  Bajo  la  Regla  del 
Patriarca  Sefior  San  Benito,  y  las  que  cor- 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


273 


The  Old 
Histories 


274 


Let  these 
suffice 


MILITARY     ORDERS 


responden  a  su  profesion.  Saccada-  ']« 
libro  de  las  definiciones  de  dicha  orden,  con- 
forme  al  Capitulo  General  celebrada  en 
Madrid  el  ano  de  mil  seiscientos  cinquenta  y 
dos.  Impresso  en  la  Puebla  de  los  Angeles 
en  la  oficina,  1783. 

Montesa  Ilustrada.  Origen,  Fundacion, 
Principios,  Institutos,  Casos  Profesos,  Juris- 
diction, Derechos.  .  .  Priviligios,  Preeminen- 
cias,  Dignidades,  Oficios,  Beneficios,  Heroes 
y  Varones  Ilustres  de  la  real  inclyta  y  nobi- 
lisima  religion  militar  de  N.  S.  Santa  Maria 
de  Montesa,  y  San  George  de  Alfama:  por 
el  Doctor  Frey  Hippolyto  de  Samper  .  .  . 
catedratico  de  derecho  en  la  insigne  univer- 
sidad  de  Valencia.  .  .  rector  del  real  colegio 
de  la  misma  orden  y  prior  formado  de  la 
Iglesia  del  Senor  San  George  .  .  .  Valencia, 
1669. 

Diffiniciones  de  la  Sagrada  Religion  y 
Cavalleria  de  vSanta  Maria  de  Montesa  y 
Sanct  Jorge,  filiacion  de  la  inclita  milicia  de 
Calatrava.  Hechos  por  los  ilustres  Frey  D. 
Alvaro  de  Luna  y  Mendoga  Cavallero  de  la 
dicha  Orden  de  Calatrava,  y  el  Licenciado 
Frey  Francisco  Rades  y  Andrada,  Capellan 
de  su  Magestad  y  Prior  de  la  Coronada  de  la 
misma  Orden  Visitadores  Generales:  con 
asistencia  del  muy  reverendo  Padre  Frey  D. 
Hieronymo  Vails,  Abad  de  Valldigna,  de  la 
Orden  de  Cister,  en  el  ano  de  MDLXXIII. 
Valencia,  1589. 

These  are  the  authorities;  modem  histor- 
ians have  added  little:  neither  Fernandez 
Guerra  in  his  sumptuous  History  of  fte 
nor  La  Fuente  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History 


HISPANIC     NOTES 


IN     SPAIN 

275 

nor  even  Uhag6n  by  the  documents  he  pub- 
Hshed  with  his  Discurso  de  Recepcion.     But 
the  elder  historians  have  yielded  much,    and 
the  following  must  be  included: — 

Roderick  of  Toledo,  "  De  Rebus  Hispaniae," 
in  Hispaniae  Illustratae. 

Primera    Coronica   General,    published    by 
Menendez  Pidal. 

Cuarto  Cronica  General,  pubUshed  as  Cron- 
ica   de   Espaiia   del   Arzobispo    D.    Rodrigo 
Jimenez  de  Rada  .  .  .  y  D.  Gonzalo  de  la 
Hinojosa.  .  .  in  Documentos  Ineditos  CV  and 
CVI. 

Florez,  Espana  Sagrada. 

Coronica  Getteral  de  Toda  Espana  y  especial- 
mente  del  Reyno  de  Valencia,  .  .  .  compues- 
ta  por  el  Doctor  Pero  Anton  Beuter,  Maestro 
en  Sacra  Theologia,  Impressa  en  Valencia  en 
casa  de  Pedro  Patricio  Mey,  junto  a  San 
Martin,  1604. 

Nohleza  de  Andalucia.  .  .  Gonzalo  Argote 
de  Molina.    (Jaen  1866). 

Nobiliario  Genealogico  de  los  Reyes  y  Tihdos 

de    Espana compuesto     por    Alonso 

Lopez  de  Haro.  .  .  En    Madrid,    por  Luis 
Sanchez    Impressor   Real,    ano    MDCXXIL 

All  the  Chronicles  of  Spain  in  the  three 
volumes    of    Ribadeneyra    with    the    other 
historical  and  biographical  works  therewith 
printed. 

1 

with  the 
Chronicles 
of  Spain 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

• 

Printed  for 
The  Hispanic  Society  of  America 

BY  THE 

John  C.  Winston  Co., 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 


10  2  3^787 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


COanEDlSb 


This  voiaiiMr  preserved 
with  funding  from  the 
National  Endowment  for 
the  Humanities,  1990. 


